Boronia octandra

Boronia octandra is a plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with three-part leaves and greenish cream to reddish brown, four-petalled flowers.

Boronia octandra
Boronia octandra in the Nuytsland Nature Reserve
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Boronia
Species:
B. octandra
Binomial name
Boronia octandra
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Description

Boronia octandra is a shrub that grows to a height of 30 cm (12 in) with its young stems covered with short, soft hairs. The leaves are trifoliate and each leaflet is more or less cylindrical to club-shaped and about 5 mm (0.20 in) long. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils and are greenish cream to yellowish brown on a top-shaped pedicel about 2 mm (0.079 in) long. The four sepals are egg-shaped, about 3 mm (0.1 in) long and the four petals are broadly elliptic and about 8 mm (0.3 in) long. The eight stamens are all fertile and alternate in length with those adjacent to the petals shorter than those adjacent to the sepals. Flowering occurs from June to October.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

Boronia octandra was first formally described in 1971 by Paul Wilson and the description was published in Nuytsia from a specimen he collected west of Ravensthorpe.[4][2]

Distribution and habitat

This boronia grows on undulating plains and breakaways in sandy soil. It is found between Gnowangerup and the West River in the Esperance Plains, Hampton and Mallee biogeographic regions.[2][3]

Conservation status

Boronia octandra is classified as "not threatened" by the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia).[3]

References
  1. "Boronia octandra". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  2. Wilson, Paul G. (1971). "Taxonomic notes on the family Rutaceae, principally of Western Australia". Nuytsia. 1 (2): 199–200. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  3. "Boronia octandra". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. "Boronia octandra". APNI. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.