Bertya oleifolia
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| Bertya oleifolia | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In Carnarvon National Park | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Euphorbiaceae |
| Genus: | Bertya |
| Species: | B. oleifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Bertya oleifolia | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
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List
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Bertya oleifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with linear to lance-shaped or narrowly elliptic leaves, separate male and female flowers, and elliptic capsules densely covered with star-shaped hairs.
Bertya oleifolia is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in), its young branchlets densely covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are linear to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or narrowly elliptic, 25–54 mm (0.98–2.13 in) long and 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) wide with the edges curved dow or rolled under. Separate male and female flowers are borne on a peduncle up to 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long, the male flowers 45 to 75 stamens. Female flowers are sessile, with narrowly egg-shaped sepals 3.3–4.5 mm (0.13–0.18 in) long and a densely hairy ovary. Flowering occurs from May to November, and the fruit is elliptic, 6.9–8.5 mm (0.27–0.33 in) long with a single seed.[2][3]
Taxonomy
Bertya oleifolia was first formally described in 1845 by Jules Émile Planchon in Hooker's London Journal of Botany from specimens collected by Allan Cunningham.[4][5] The specific epithet (oleifolia) means 'olive-tree leaved'.[6]