Poranthera microphylla explained

Poranthera microphylla, commonly known as small poranthera,[1] is a flowering plant in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is a small, widespread Australian herb with blue-grey leaves and white flowers.

Description

Poranthera microphylla is a decumbent or more or less upright, slender, densely branched, annual herb up to high. It has soft, smooth branches, egg to spoon-shaped blue-grey leaves, thin, usually long, wide, margins more or less flat or slightly recurved, petiole long, apex blunt or rounded and mostly with a short, triangular point. The flowers are in a corymb about across, petals white or pink, bracts narrowly egg-shaped, up to about long and on a pedicels to . Flowering occurs mostly from September to April and the fruit is a 3-lobed capsule in diameter, white and warty.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Poranthera microphylla was first formally described in 1833 by Adolphe-Théodore Brongniart and the description was published in Annales des Sciences Naturelles.[3] The specific epithet (microphylla) means "small leaved".[4]

Distribution and habitat

Small poranthera is a widespread species and grows in dry, montane forest, woodland and grassland in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.[2]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Cosgrove . Meredith . Photographic Guide to Native Plants of the Australian Capital Territory . 2014 . Meadow Argus . 9780994183408 . 280.
  2. Web site: James . T.A . Harden . G.J . Poranthera microphylla . PlantNET-NSW flora online . Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney . 29 March 2023.
  3. Book: Brongniart . Adolphe-Théodore . Annales des Sciences Naturelles . 1833 . Paris . 385 . 29 .
  4. Book: George . A.S . Sharr . F.A . Western Australian Plant Names and their meanings . 2021 . Four Gables . Kardinya . 9780958034197 . 260 . 4th.