Philotheca brucei
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Narrow-leaf wax-flower | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Philotheca brucei near Paynes Find | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Genus: | Philotheca |
| Species: | P. brucei |
| Binomial name | |
| Philotheca brucei (F.Muell.) Paul G.Wilson[1] | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Eriostemon brucei F.Muell. | |
Philotheca brucei is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a shrub with cylindrical leaves grooved along the top and in spring, white to pink or mauve flowers with five egg-shaped petals.
Philotheca brucei is a shrub that grows to a height of 2 m (6 ft 7 in) with erect branchlets. The leaves are thin cylindrical to narrow oblong, up to 15 mm (0.59 in) long, with the upper surface dished or channelled, sometimes densely covered with star-shaped hairs. The flowers are borne singly on a pedicel 0.5–4 mm (0.020–0.157 in) long. There are five more or less fleshy, round sepals about 1 mm (0.039 in) long and five broadly egg-shaped, glabrous, white to pale pink or mauve petals about 4.5 mm (0.18 in) long. There are ten stamens each with an anther 0.5–1 mm (0.020–0.039 in) long.[2][3]
Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1869 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Eriostemon brucei and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae.[4][5] The specific epithet (brucei) honours John Bruce who was for a time the acting governor of Western Australia.[5]
In 1970 Paul Wilson described three subspecies, brevifolia, brucei and cinerea. The descriptions were published in the journal Nuytsia.[3] In 1990, Wilson transferred Eriostemon brucei to the genus Philotheca as P. brucei.[6] He also transferred the three subspecies to Philotheca and the names have been accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
- Philotheca brucei subsp. brevifolia (Paul G.Wilson) Paul G.Wilson[7] has densely hairy leaves that are only up to1.5 mm (0.059 in) long;
- Philotheca brucei (F.Muell.) Paul G.Wilson subsp. brucei[8] has more or less cylindrical leaves that are glabrous when mature;
- Philotheca brucei subsp. cinerea (Paul G.Wilson) Paul G.Wilson.[9] has densely hairy, oblong leaves.