Seringia integrifolia explained

Seringia integrifolia, commonly known as common firebush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a compact shrub, its new growth densely covered with star-shaped hairs, and has mostly narrowly leaves and many deep blue to purple flowers arranged in groups of 4 to 10.

Description

Seringia integrifolia is a compact, suckering shrub that typically grows to a height of and wide and often forms dense, extensive colonies, its new growth densely covered with pale or rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are narrowly oblong, sometimes narrowly elliptic, long and wide on a less than petiole long with leaf-like stipules long sometimes present at the base. The flowers are arranged in groups of 4 to 10 on a linear peduncle long, each flower on in diameter on a pedicel long. The flowers are deep blue to purple, the petals are absent, and the stamens have golden filaments and tiny staminodes. Flowering occurs from August to November, and the fruit is a spherical capsule up to in diameter.[1] [2]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1845 by Ernst Steudel, who gave it the name Keraudrenia integrifolia in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae from specimens collected near the Swan River in 1839.[3] [4] The specific epithet (integrifolia) means "whole-leaved", referring to the leaves that lack serrations or lobes.[5]

In 1860, Ferdinand von Mueller changed the name to Seringia integrifolia in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.[6] [7]

Distribution and habitat

Seringia integrifolia grows in heathy shrubland and open woodland between Carnamah and Quairading with a disjunct population near Hopetoun in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Blake . Trevor L. . Lantern Bushes of Australia; Thomasias & Allied Genera . 2021 . A.P.S. Keiler Plains Inc. . Australia . 9780646839301 . 414–415.
  2. Book: Bentham . George . Flora Australiensis . 1863 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 247 . 12 April 2023.
  3. Web site: Keraudrenia integrifolia . Australian Plant Name Index . 12 April 2023.
  4. Book: von Steudel . Ernst G. . Lehmann . Johann G.C. . Preiss . Ludwig . Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali . 1845 . Sumptibus Meissneri . Hamburg . 236 . 12 April 2023.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 225 . 3rd.
  6. Web site: Seringia integrifolia . Australian Plant Name Index . 12 April 2023.
  7. Book: von Mueller . Ferdinand . Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae . 2 . 1860 . Victorian Government Printer . Melbourne . 5 . 12 April 2023.