Marianthus candidus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marianthus candidus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Apiales |
| Family: | Pittosporaceae |
| Genus: | Marianthus |
| Species: | M. candidus |
| Binomial name | |
| Marianthus candidus | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Billardiera candida (Hügel ex Endl.) E.M.Benn. | |
Marianthus candidus, commonly known as white marianthus,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a twining shrub or climber with elliptic leaves and white flowers arranged in groups of twenty to thirty and becoming fawn or pink as they age.
Marianthus candidus is a twining shrub or climber with warty stems that are silky-hairy at first, but become glabrous as they age. Its adult leaves are elliptic, 40–70 mm (1.6–2.8 in) long and 12–15 mm (0.47–0.59 in) wide on a petiole 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) long. The lower surface of the leaves is silky-hairy. The flowers are arranged in groups of ten to thirty on a rachis 40–55 mm (1.6–2.2 in) long the peduncle and pedicels less than 10 mm (0.39 in) long. The sepals are egg-shaped, 3.5–5.0 mm (0.14–0.20 in) long, and pink and white. The five petals are 12–22 mm (0.47–0.87 in) long, white, fading to fawn or pink and joined at the base to form a short tube with spatula-shaped, spreading lobes. Flowering mainly occurs in October and November.[2][3][4][5][6]
Taxonomy
Marianthus candidus was first formally described in 1837 by Stephan Endlicher in Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel from an unpublished description by Charles von Hügel of a plant he collected in the Swan River Colony.[7][8] The specific epithet (candidus) means "pure glossy white".[9]