Philotheca obovatifolia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mountain wax-flower | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Sapindales |
| Family: | Rutaceae |
| Genus: | Philotheca |
| Species: | P. obovatifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Philotheca obovatifolia | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Philotheca obovatifolia, commonly known as mountain wax-flower,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a small shrub with broadly egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end toward the base and densely crowded near the ends of the glandular-warty branchlets, and cream-coloured flowers tinged with pink and arranged singly or in groups of up to five in leaf axils.
Philotheca obovatifolia is a shrub that grows to a height of about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) and has glandular-warty branchlets. The leaves are densely clustered near the ends of the branchlets and are broadly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 28–60 mm (1.1–2.4 in) long, 14–30 mm (0.55–1.18 in) wide with a prominent midrib on the lower surface. The flowers are arranged singly or in groups of up to five on a conspicuous peduncle up to 10 mm (0.39 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) long. There are five triangular sepals and five elliptic to oblong cream-coloured petals 8–9 mm (0.31–0.35 in) long, 3.5–4 mm (0.14–0.16 in) wide and tinged with pink. The ten stamens are hairy. Flowering occurs in late spring and the fruit is about 7 mm (0.28 in) long with a beak about 3 mm (0.12 in) long.[2][3][4]
Taxonomy and naming
This philotheca was first formally described in 1998 by Michael J. Bayly who gave it the name Philotheca myoporoides subsp. obovatifolia and published the description in the journal Muelleria.[5][6] In 2005 Paul Irwin Forster raised the subspecies to species status as Philotheca obovatifolia in the journal Austrobaileya.[7][8]