Philotheca virgata

Philotheca virgata, commonly known as Tasmanian wax-flower,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a slender, erect shrub with wedge-shaped to oblong leaves and white or pale pink flowers at the ends of branchlets. It is the only philotheca with four sepals and petals.

Tasmanian wax-flower
Near Coles Bay, Tasmania
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Philotheca
Species:
P. virgata
Binomial name
Philotheca virgata
Synonyms[1]
  • Eriostemon virgatus A.Cunn. ex Hook
Habit

Description

Philotheca virgata is a slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of about 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in–6 ft 7 in) and has prominently glandular warty branchlets. The leaves are sessile, narrow wedge-shaped to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long and 2–4 mm (0.079–0.157 in) wide and glandular warty on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged singly on the end of branchlets on a thin pedicel 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long. The four sepals are more or less round, fleshy and about 1 mm (0.039 in) long. The four petals are white or pale pink, broadly elliptic and about 5.5 mm (0.22 in) long and the eight stamens are about 8 mm (0.31 in) long and hairy. Flowering occurs from May to December and the fruit is about 5 mm (0.20 in) long with a short beak.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy

Tasmanian wax-flower was first formally described in 1840 by Joseph Dalton Hooker from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham who gave it the name Erisotemon virgatus. Hooker published the description in The Journal of Botany.[5][6] In 1998, Paul Wilson changed the name to Philotheca virgata in the journal Nuytsia.[7][8]

Distribution and habitat

Philotheca virgata grows in heathland and forest in coastal areas of southern and western Tasmania, south of Eden in New South Wales and in the extreme north east of Victoria.[2][3][4][9]

References
  1. "Philotheca virgata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  2. Wilson, Paul G.; Wilson, Annette J.G. (ed.) (2013). Flora of Australia (Volume 26). Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study. p. 400. Retrieved 15 August 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. Bayly, Michael J. "Philotheca virgata". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  4. Weston, Peter H.; Harden, Gwen J. "Philotheca virgata". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  5. "Eriostemon virgatus". APNI. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  6. Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1840). "Contributions towards a Flora of Van Dieman's Land, chiefly from the collections of Ronald Gunn., Esq., and the late Mr Lawrence". The Journal of Botany. 2: 417–418. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  7. "Philotheca virgata". APNI. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  8. Wilson, Paul G. (1998). "A Taxonomic Review of the genera Eriostemon and Philotheca". Nuytsia. 12 (2): 260. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  9. Jordan, Greg. "Philotheca virgata". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
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