Cyanothamnus penicillatus

Cyanothamnus penicillatus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Cyanothamnus
Species:
C. penicillatus
Binomial name
Cyanothamnus penicillatus
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
Synonyms[1]

Boronia penicillata Benth.

Cyanothamnus penicillatus is a plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with pinnate leaves and white flowers with four petals and eight stamens.

Description

Cyanothamnus penicillatus is a spreading shrub that grows to a height of 30 cm (10 in). The leaves are sessile and pinnate with three or five leaflets, each leaflet linear to narrow wedge-shaped and 5–12 mm (0.2–0.5 in) long. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a pedicel 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) long. The four sepals are egg-shaped, 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long and the four petals are white and 2–3.5 mm (0.079–0.14 in) long. The eight stamens are slightly hairy and there is a very short point on the end of the anthers. Flowering occurs mainly from October to November.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham who gave it the name Boronia penicillata in Flora Australiensis from a specimen collected by James Drummond.[4][5] In a 2013 paper in the journal Taxon, Marco Duretto and others changed the name to Cyanothamnus anemonifolus on the basis of cladistic analysis.[6] The specific epithet (penicillatus) is derived from the Latin word penicillum meaning "little tail", "painter's brush" or "tuft".[7]

Distribution and habitat

This boronia grows in sand and has a disjunct distribution between Toodyay and the Fitzgerald River.[2]

Conservation

Cyanothamnus penicillatus is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b "Cyanothamnus penicillatus". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b Duretto, Marco F.; Wilson, Paul G.; Ladiges, Pauline Y. "Boronia penicillata". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. ^ a b "Cyanothamnus penicillatus". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ^ "Boronia penicillata". APNI. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. ^ Bentham, George; von Mueller, Ferdinand (1863). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 1. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 322. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  6. ^ Duretto, Marco F.; Heslewood, Margaret M.; Bayly, Michael J. (2020). "Boronia (Rutaceae) is polyphyletic: Reinstating Cyanothamnus and the problems associated with inappropriately defined outgroups". Taxon. 69 (3): 481–499. doi:10.1002/tax.12242. S2CID 225836058.
  7. ^ Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 173.