Pseudanthus pimeleoides explained

Pseudanthus pimeleoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Picrodendraceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a monoecious shrub with crowded, linear to narrowly egg-shaped leaves and creamy white male flowers and inconspicuous female arranged singly in upper leaf axils, but appearing clustered on the ends of branches.

Description

Pseudanthus pimeleoides is a compact shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has many glabrous branchlets. The leaves are linear to narrowly egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long with reddish-brown, narrowly triangular or broadly egg-shaped stipules long at the base. The leaves are glabrous and the mid-rib is conspicuous on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged singly in upper leaf axils with bracts long at the base, but appear to be clustered on the ends of branches. Male flowers are on a pedicel long, the 6 tepals creamy white, long and wide and there are 6 stamens. Female flowers are sessile, the 6 tepals, long and wide. Flowering occurs has been observed from February to November, and the fruit is a more or less spherical capsule about long and wide.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Pseudanthus pimeleoides was first formally described in 1827 by Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel in Systema Vegetabilium from an unpublished description by August Siebert.[3] [4] The specific epithet (pimeleoides) means "Pimelea-like".[5]

Distribution and habitat

Pseudanthus pimeleoides grows in sandy soil in moist gullies From Colo Heights to Bargo, with a few records from the upper Hunter Valley, in the Sydney region of New South Wales.

Notes and References

  1. Halford . David A. . Henderson . Rodney J.F. . Studies in Euphorbiaceae A.L.Juss. sens. lat. 5. A revision of Pseudanthus Sieber ex Spreng. and Stachystemon Planch. (Oldfieldioideae Kohler & Webster, Caletieae Mull.Arg.). . Austrobaileya . 2003 . 6 . 3 . 514–515 . 5 October 2023.
  2. Web site: James . Teresa A. . Harden . Gwen J. . Pseudanthus pimeleoides . Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney . 6 October 2023.
  3. Web site: Pseudanthus pimeleoides . Australian Plant Name Index . 7 October 2023.
  4. Sprengel . Kurt P.J. . Curae Posteriores. . Systema Vegetabilium . 1827 . 17 . 4 . 2 . 25 . 7 October 2023.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 278 . 3rd.