Andersonia aristata
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rice flower | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Andersonia |
| Species: | A. aristata |
| Binomial name | |
| Andersonia aristata | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Andersonia aristata, commonly known as rice flower,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a slender, erect or spreading shrub with linear to lance-shaped leaves and white, tube-shaped flowers with bearded petal lobes.
Andersonia aristata is a slender, erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 8–50 cm (3.1–19.7 in). Its leaves are linear to lance-shaped, mostly 1–5 mm (0.039–0.197 in) long and 0.5–1.5 mm (0.020–0.059 in) wide. The flowers are arranged in clusters of mostly 2 to 10 with bracts up to 2 mm (0.079 in) wide and shorter bracteoles. The sepals are linear to lance-shaped, 8.0–12.0 mm (0.31–0.47 in) long, the petals tube-shaped and white with lobes about as long as the tube, and densely bearded. The stamens are 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long and slightly longer than the petal tube, later 10–14 mm (0.39–0.55 in) long.[3][2]
Taxonomy
Andersonia aristata was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony[4][5] The specific epithet (aristata) mean 'awned', referring to the leaves.[6]