Persoonia laurina explained

Persoonia laurina, commonly known as the laurel-leaved or laurel geebung, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae native to central New South Wales in eastern Australia. Found in sclerophyll forest, it grows to a height of . The yellow flowers appear in late spring.

Taxonomy

Persoonia laurina was one of five species described by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in his 1805 work Synopsis Plantarum,[1] from material collected by John White in 1793 and 1794. The species name refers to a resemblance to Laurus "laurel".[2] James Edward Smith described this species as the rusty persoonia (Persoonia ferruginea) in his 1805 book Exotic Botany.[3] The horticulturist Joseph Knight used Smith's name in his controversial 1809 work On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae,[4] as did Robert Brown in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. Brown also recognised that the two names were the same species.[5]

In 1870, George Bentham published the first infrageneric arrangement of Persoonia in Volume 5 of his landmark Flora Australiensis. He divided the genus into three sections, placing P. ferruginea in P. sect. Amblyanthera.[6]

Within the genus, P. laurina is classified in the Laurina group, a group of three species from southeastern Australia that all have a lignotuber.[7]

Three subspecies are recognised. First recorded as distinct in 1981, they were officially described as subspecies in 1991 by Lawrie Johnson and Peter Weston of the New South Wales Herbarium.[8]

Description

Persoonia laurina grows as a shrub with an upright or sprawling habit reaching anywhere from 0.2mto2mm (00.7feetto07feetm) tall. New growth is covered with dense grey to rusty-brown hairs. Flowering takes place over November to January. Seedlings have only two cotyledon leaves, unlike many members of the genus, which have more.[7]

Ecology

All three subspecies resprout after bushfire from a woody lignotuber. Subspecies laurina is estimated to have a lifespan of 50 to 100 years.[9]

Uses and cultivation

The bark was traditionally used by Aboriginal people to soak fishing lines and toughen them.[2] Drupes were eaten by indigenous people on the Beecroft Peninsula, though were not as highly regarded as those of P. lanceolata.[10]

P. laurina is an attractive plant with horticultural potential. Cultivating it would most likely require good water drainage, a position in sun or dappled shade and acidic soil. It is hardy to frosts.[11] However, it appears to be short-lived in cultivation, with plants at the Mount Annan Botanic Gardens surviving for a maximum of six years after planting out.[7] While difficult to propagate by seed,[2] it has been easier to propagate by cuttings of new growth.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Persoon, Christiaan Hendrik . Christiaan Hendrik Persoon . 1805 . Synopsis plantarum, seu enchiridium botanicum, complectens enumerationem systematicam specierum hucusque cognitarum . Paris, France . Apud Carol. Frid. Cramerum . 1 . 118 . foliis ovatis coriaceis, flor. racemosis tomentosis . la.
  2. Book: Wrigley, John . Fagg, Murray . Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas . 1991 . Angus & Robertson . Sydney, New South Wales . 488 . 0-207-17277-3.
  3. Book: Smith, James Edward. Exotic Botany: consisting of coloured figures, and scientific descriptions, of such new, beautiful, or rare plants as are worthy of cultivation in the gardens of Britain; with remarks on their qualities, history, and requisite modes of treatment. R. Taylor & Co.. London, United Kingdom. 1805. 2. 47.
  4. Book: Knight, Joseph . Salisbury, Richard . 1809 . On the Cultivation of the Plants Belonging to the Natural Order of Proteeae . Persoonia. . W. Savage . London, United Kingdom . 100.
  5. Book: Brown, Robert. 1810. Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen . London, United Kingdom. 373. Richard Taylor and Company. Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) .
  6. Encyclopedia: Bentham, George. 1870. Persoonia. Flora Australiensis. 5. 380–83. London, United Kingdom. L. Reeve & Co..
  7. Weston, Peter H. . 2003 . Proteaceae subfamily Persoonioideae: Botany of the Geebungs, Snottygobbles and their Relatives . . 22 . 175 . 62–78 [66] . 0005-0008.
  8. Weston . Peter H.. Johnson . Lawrence Alexander Sydney. 1991. Taxonomic changes in Persoonia (Proteaceae) in New South Wales . Telopea . 4. 2. 369–406 [281–83] . 10.7751/telopea19914929. free.
  9. Benson. Doug . McDougall. Lyn . 2000. Ecology of Sydney Plant Species Part 7b: Dicotyledon families Proteaceae to Rubiaceae. Cunninghamia. 6. 4. 1017–1202 [1104–1105].
  10. Lampert, R. J. . Sanders, Frances . 1973. Plants and Men on the Beecroft Peninsula, New South Wales. The Australian Journal of Anthropology. 9. 2. 96–108. 10.1111/j.1835-9310.1973.tb01380.x.
  11. Book: Elliot, Rodger W. . Jones, David L. . Blake, Trevor . Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation . 7: N–Po . 1997 . 219 . Lothian Press . Port Melbourne, Victoria . 0-85091-634-8.