Boronia eriantha

Boronia eriantha is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to central Queensland, Australia. It is an erect shrub with many branches, leaves with up to nine leaflets, and white and red, four-petalled flowers.

Boronia eriantha
Boronia eriantha in the Carnarvon National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Boronia
Species:
B. eriantha
Binomial name
Boronia eriantha
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Description

Boronia eriantha is an erect, many-branched shrub which grows to a height of 2.0 m (7 ft) with its young branches densely covered with dull white to reddish brown hairs. The leaves are pinnate with between one and nine leaflets and have a petiole 2–6 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long. The end leaflet is 2–7.5 mm (0.08–0.3 in) long, 1–3.5 mm (0.04–0.1 in) wide and larger than the side leaflets which are 3–9 mm (0.1–0.4 in) long and 1–3.5 mm (0.04–0.1 in) wide. The leaflets are lance-shaped, with the narrower end towards the base and their undersides are mostly glabrous. Usually only a single white and red flower is arranged in leaf axils on a pedicel 0.5–2.5 mm (0.020–0.098 in) long. The four sepals are egg-shaped to triangular, 2–5 mm (0.079–0.20 in) long and 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.12 in) wide. The four petals are 6–11 mm (0.24–0.43 in) long, 3.5–5 mm (0.14–0.20 in) wide and hairy on the underside. The eight stamens have glandular hairs. Flowering occurs from April to September and the fruit are about 5.5 mm (0.22 in) long and 3 mm (0.12 in) wide.[2]

Taxonomy and naming

Boronia eriantha was first formally described in 1848 by John Lindley and the description was published in the journal Thomas Mitchell's Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia.[3] The specific epithet (eriantha) is derived from the ancient Greek words erion (ἔριον) meaning "wool" and anthos (ἄνθος) meaning "flower".[4]

Distribution and habitat

This boronia grows in woodland and forest on sandstone in the Carnarvon Range and White Mountains National Park.[2]

Conservation

Boronia eriantha is classed as "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.[5]

References
  1. "Boronia eriantha". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  2. Duretto, Marco F. (1999). "Systematics of Boronia section Valvatae sensu lato (Rutaceae)" (PDF). Muelleria. 12 (1): 45–46. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  3. "Boronia eriantha". APNI. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
  4. Backer, C.A. (1936). Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).
  5. "Boronia eriantha". The State of Queensland Department of Environment and Science. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.