Persoonia mollis explained

Persoonia mollis, commonly known as soft geebung,^[1] is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect to prostrate shrub with linear to oblong or spatula-shaped leaves, yellow flowers in groups of up to thirty on a rachis up to long and relatively small fruit.

Description

Persoonia mollis is an erect to prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of and has smooth bark and young branchlets that are covered with greyish to rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are linear, oblong to lance-shaped or spatula-shaped, long, wide and much paler on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged in groups of up to thirty along a rachis up to long that grows into a leafy shoot after flowering, each flower on a pedicel about long, usually with a leaf at the base. The tepals are yellow, long and hairy on the outside. Flowering mostly occurs from late December to May and the fruit is a green drupe about long and wide.^{[2] [3]}

Taxonomy

Persoonia mollis was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.^{[4] [5]}

In 1991, Siegfried Krauss and Lawrie Johnson described nine subspecies of P. mollis in the journal Telopea, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Persoonia mollis subsp. budawangensis S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[6] is an erect shrub, tall with small, oblong leaves mostly long and wide and is endemic to the Budawang Range;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. caleyi (R.Br.) S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[7] is an erect shrub, tall with small, linear to narrow lance-shaped leaves long and less than wide;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. ledifolia (A.Cunn. ex Meisn.) S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[8] is an erect shrub, tall with small, oblong leaves mostly long and wide and is found between Fitzroy Falls and Kangaroo Valley;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. leptophylla S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[9] is a dense, compact shrub high with bright green, linear to thread-like leaves wide that are sparsely hairy on the lower surface;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. livens S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[10] is a dense, compact shrub high with green to greyish, linear to thread-like leaves wide that are densely hairy on the lower surface;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. maxima S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[11] has large, soft, lance-shaped leaves long and wide, the flower buds covered with copper-coloured hairs about long;
• Persoonia mollis R.Br. subsp. mollis^[12] has large, soft, lance-shaped leaves long and wide, the flower buds densely covered with whitish hairs about long;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. nectens S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[13] has large, pliable but not soft, lance-shaped leaves long and wide, and flower buds sparsely covered with whitish hairs about long;
• Persoonia mollis subsp. revoluta S.Krauss & L.A.S.Johnson^[14] is a prostrate, spreading shrub, tall and up to wide, with oblong to egg-shaped leaves long and more than wide.

Distribution and habitat

Soft geebung grows from heath to forest, usually on sandstone, from the Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury River south to the Clyde River.

• Subspecies budawangensis grows from woodland to forest and is endemic to the Budawang Range;^[15]
• Subspecies caleyi grows in forest between Jervis Bay and Durras Lake on the South Coast;^[16]
• Subspecies ledifolia occurs between Kangaloon, the Shoalhaven River, Jamberoo and Wingello where it grows from heath to forest on Hawkesbury Sandstone;^[17]
• Subspecies leptophylla is found between the Shoalhaven River, Budawang Range, Nerriga and Nowra and on the Beecroft Peninsula where it grows in heath and forest on Nowra and Conjola sandstones;^[18]
• Subspecies livens is found between Penrose, Goulburn and Braidwood, growing in woodland on metasedimentary rock and conglomerate;^[19]
• Subspecies maxima grows in forest on Hawkesbury sandstone in the Cowan-Hornsby area;^[20]
• Subspecies mollis is found in forest on sandstone in the Blue Mountains;^[21]
• Subspecies nectens occurs between Oakdale, Hill Top and the Illawarra Escarpment where it grows in forest;^[22]
• Subspecies revoluta grows in forest on Hawkesbury sandstone between Nattai Gorge, Bullio, Berrima and Canyonleigh.^[23]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
2. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 25 October 2020.
3. Krauss . Siegfried L. . Johnson . Lawrence A.S. . A revision of the complex species Persoonia mollis (Proteaceae) . Telopea . 1 March 1991 . 4 . 2 . 185–189 . 10.7751/telopea19914926. free .
4. Web site: Persoonia mollis. APNI. 25 October 2020.
5. Brown . Robert . On the Proteaceae of Jussieu. . Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . 1810 . 10 . 1 . 161 . 25 October 2020.
6. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. budawangensis. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
7. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. caleyi. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
8. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. ledifolia. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
9. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. leptophylla. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
10. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. livens. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
11. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. maxima. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
12. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. mollis. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
13. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. nectens. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
14. Web site: Persoonia mollis subsp. revoluta. Australian Plant Census. 24 October 2020.
15. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. budawangensis. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
16. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. caleyi. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
17. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. ledifolia. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
18. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. leptophylla. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
19. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. livens. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
20. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. maxima. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
21. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. mollis. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
22. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. nectens. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.
23. Web site: Weston . Peter H. . Persoonia mollis subsp. revoluta. Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 25 October 2020.