Asterolasia pallida
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Asterolasia pallida | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Genus: | Asterolasia |
| Species: | A. pallida |
| Binomial name | |
| Asterolasia pallida | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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Asterolasia pallida is a species of woody, perennial herb that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has elliptical leaves and white flowers arranged in umbels of three to six with star-shaped hairs on the back of the petals and fifteen to twenty-five stamens.
Asterolasia pallida is a woody, perennial herb that typically grows to a height of about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and sometimes forms a rhizome. The leaves are elliptical, 10–25 mm (0.39–0.98 in) long and covered with star-shaped hairs on the lower side. The flowers are arranged in umbels of three to six in leaf axils and on the ends of branchlets, each flower on a thin pedicel 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) long. The petals are white, elliptical, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long, with rust-coloured and colourless, star-shaped hairs on the back, and there are fifteen to twenty-five stamens.[2][3]
Taxonomy
Asterolasia pallida was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham and the description was published in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected by James Drummond.[4][5]
In 1998, Paul Wilson described two subspecies and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Asterolasia pallida subsp. hyalina has petals with only colourless hairs on the back of the petals and only occurs in the Dryandra State Forest south-east of Perth;[6]
- Asterolasia pallida subsp. pallida has both colourless and reddish hairs on the back of the petals and has a widespread distribution on the Darling Range.[7][8]