Persoonia laurina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Laurel geebung | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Persoonia |
| Species: | P. laurina |
| Binomial name | |
| Persoonia laurina | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Persoonia ferruginea Sm. | |
Persoonia laurina, commonly known as the laurel-leaved or laurel geebung, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae native to central New South Wales in eastern Australia. Found in sclerophyll forest, it grows to a height of 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). The yellow flowers appear in late spring.
Persoonia laurina was one of five species described by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon in his 1805 work Synopsis Plantarum,[2] from material collected by John White in 1793 and 1794.[3] The species name refers to a resemblance to Laurus "laurel".[4] James Edward Smith described this species as the rusty persoonia (Persoonia ferruginea) in his 1805 book Exotic Botany.[5] The horticulturist Joseph Knight used Smith's name in his controversial 1809 work On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae,[6] as did Robert Brown in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. Brown also recognised that the two names were the same species.[7]
In 1870, George Bentham published the first infrageneric arrangement of Persoonia in Volume 5 of his landmark Flora Australiensis. He divided the genus into three sections, placing P. ferruginea in P. sect. Amblyanthera.[8]
Within the genus, P. laurina is classified in the Laurina group, a group of three species from southeastern Australia that all have a lignotuber.[9]
Three subspecies are recognised.[10] First recorded as distinct in 1981, they were officially described as subspecies in 1991 by Lawrie Johnson and Peter Weston of the New South Wales Herbarium.[11]
Description
Persoonia laurina grows as a shrub with an upright or sprawling habit reaching anywhere from 0.2 to 2 metres (7+3⁄4 in to 6 ft 6+3⁄4 in) tall. New growth is covered with dense grey to rusty-brown hairs. Flowering takes place over November to January.[3] Seedlings have only two cotyledon leaves, unlike many members of the genus, which have more.[9]