Philotheca hispidula explained

Philotheca hispidula is a flowering plant in the citrus family and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a small shrub with narrow egg-shaped to wedge-shaped leaves that are glandular-wavy on the edges, and white or pale pink flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Description

Philotheca hispidula is a shrub that typically grows to a height of about with slightly glandular-warty, finely bristly branchlets. The leaves are narrow egg-shaped to narrow wedge-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide. The flowers are usually arranged singly in leaf axils on a finely bristly peduncle long and a pedicel long. There are five semi-circular, fleshy-centred sepals about long and five broadly elliptical white or pale pink petals about long with a glandular keel. The ten stamens are slightly hairy. Flowering occurs in spring and the fruit is about long with a beak about long.[1] [2] [3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1827 by Sprengel from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber and the description was published in Systema Vegetabilium.[4] In 2005 Paul G. Wilson changed the name to Philotheca hispidula in the journal Nuytsia.[5] [6]

Distribution and habitat

Philotheca hispidula grows in forest on sandstone in the Blue Mountains and in the Sydney region.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Wilson . Paul G. . Wilson . Annette J.G. (ed.) . Flora of Australia (Volume 26) . 2013 . Australian Biological Resources Study . Canberra . 398 . 6 August 2020.
  2. Web site: Philotheca hispidula . PlantNET – NSW Flora Online . 17 August 2018.
  3. Book: Les Robinson . Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney . Kangaroo Press . 2003 . 120 . 978-0-7318-1211-0.
  4. Web site: Eriostemon hispidula. APNI. 6 August 2020.
  5. Web site: Philotheca hispidula. APNI. 6 August 2020.
  6. Wilson . Paul G. . A Taxonomic Review of the genera Eriostemon and Philotheca . Nuytsia . 1998 . 12 . 2 . 259 . 6 August 2020.