Spyridium halmaturinum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kangaroo Island spyridium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| In the Australian National Botanic Gardens | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rhamnaceae |
| Genus: | Spyridium |
| Species: | S. halmaturinum |
| Binomial name | |
| Spyridium halmaturinum | |
Spyridium halmaturinum, commonly known as Kangaroo Island spyridium,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia. It is an erect, sticky shrub with densely softly-hairy young stems, leaves that are heart-shaped with the narrower end towards the base to broadly wedge-shaped or Y-shaped, and dense heads of white to cream-coloured flowers.
Spyridium halmaturinum is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 0.3–2 m (1 ft 0 in – 6 ft 7 in) and has sticky foliage, its young stems densely covered with simple and star-shaped hairs. The leaves are heart-shaped with the narrower end towards the base to broadly wedge-shaped or Y-shaped, mostly 5.5–10 mm (0.22–0.39 in) long and 4.2–6 mm (0.17–0.24 in) wide on a petiole 1.5–2.0 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long. There are reddish brown, egg-shaped stipules 1.8–2.7 mm (0.071–0.106 in) long at the base of the leaves. The edges of the leaves are turned down or rolled under, the tip is often forked with two lobes, and both surfaces are covered with soft, star-shaped hairs. The heads of "flowers" are 7–11 mm (0.28–0.43 in) wide, the individual flowers more or less sessile and velvety-hairy. Each head is surrounded by 5 or 6 white floral leaves 4.2–5.7 mm (0.17–0.22 in) long, 2.8–5.5 mm (0.11–0.22 in) wide and densely covered with a velvety layer of star-shaped hairs. The fruit is a dark brown capsule 1.7–2.2 mm (0.067–0.087 in) long.[2][3]