Leionema hillebrandii, commonly known as Mount Lofty phebalium,[1] is a perennial, woody shrub endemic to South Australia. It has variable shaped leaves and pinkish flowers from late winter to spring.
Leionema hillebrandii is a small straggly, perennial shrub to high with smooth greenish-brown to red, thin, terete branchlets sparsely covered with star shaped hairs. The edges of the leaves are rolled under, dark green, silky, heart shaped to wedge-shaped, narrowing at the base or egg-shaped to wedge-shaped or oblong, long, wide with smooth margins. The leaves may be squared with a point or rounded at the apex or acute with two lobes, rounded with a shallow notch, papery, smooth texture or rough with short hard protrusions on the upper surface. The inflorescence is cluster of up to 16 pinkish flowers on a thin pedicel long. The calyx lobes triangular shaped, about high and occasional star-shaped hairs. The petals are smooth, spreading, narrowly oval-shaped, long and pink toward the tip. The stamens are more or less equal in length to the petals and the anthers pink. The fruit is a light brown, 2-4 segmented egg-shaped capsule, long, rounded at the apex with a beak. Flowering occurs from August to October.[2]
Mount Lofty phebalium was described in 1957 as Phebalium hillebrandii by J.H Willis,[3] but the name was changed to Leionema hillebrandii in 1998 by Paul G. Wilson and the description was published in the journal Nuytsia.[4] [5] The specific epithet (hillebrandii) was named in honour of Dr. Wilhelm Hillebrand a friend of Baron von Mueller.[6]
This species is found along rocky waterways from Mount Lofty to Tanunda in South Australia.[2] [6]