Myoporum mauritianum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Myoporum mauritianum | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Genus: | Myoporum |
| Species: | M. mauritianum |
| Binomial name | |
| Myoporum mauritianum | |
Myoporum mauritianum is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a few volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a small, low-branched shrub with serrated leaves and small white flowers and usually grows on calcarenite within 20 metres (70 ft) of the sea.
Myoporum mauritianum is a low shrub, usually growing to no more than 1 metre (3 ft). It has thick, lance-shaped leaves with serrated edges and are about 44–66 millimetres (2–3 in) long and 7.5–12 millimetres (0.3–0.5 in) wide.[2]
The flowers occur singly or in pairs in the axils of the leaves on a stalk 9–14.5 millimetres (0.4–0.6 in) long and there are 5 triangular sepals. The petals are white and form a tube 2.5–4 millimetres (0.1–0.2 in) long with the lobes spreading to about 2 millimetres (0.08 in). The fruit is a yellow, roughly spherical drupe.[2]
Taxonomy and naming
Myoporum mauritianum was first formally described by botanist Alphonse de Candolle in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810.[1][3] The specific epithet mauitianum is the latinised form of Mauritius.