Boronia excelsa

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Boronia excelsa
Boronia excelsa.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Boronia
Species:
B. excelsa
Binomial name
Boronia excelsa
Boronia excelsa DistMap39.png
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Boronia excelsa is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to a small area in Far North Queensland. It is an erect shrub with woolly-hairy branches, simple, stalkless, more or less hairless leaves, and pink to white, four-petalled flowers.

Contents

Description

Boronia excelsa is an erect shrub with many woolly-hairy branches that grows to about a height of 3 m (10 ft). It has simple, elliptic, sessile leaves 14–60 mm (0.6–2 in) long and 2–6 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide. The leaves are much paler on the lower surface. The flowers are pink to white and are arranged singly in leaf axils on a pedicel 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long. The four sepals are egg-shaped to triangular, about 3 mm (0.1 in) long, 1.5 mm (0.06 in) wide and densely woolly-hairy on the back. The four petals are 4.5–5 mm (0.18–0.20 in) long and 2–3 mm (0.08–0.1 in) wide, the eight stamens are hairy and the style is glabrous. Flowering occurs from July to August and the fruit is a glabrous capsule about 4.5 mm (0.2 in) long and 2 mm (0.08 in) wide. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Boronia excelsa was first formally described in 1999 by Marco F. Duretto who published the description in the journal Austrobaileya from a specimen collected on the Mount Windsor Tableland. [4] [2] The specific epithet (excelsa) is a Latin word meaning "high" or "lofty" [5] referring to the higher altitudes where this species occurs. [2]

Distribution and habitat

This boronia grows in wet forests and near the edges of rainforest above 1,000 m (3,000 ft) and is restricted to the Mount Windsor Tableland. [2]

Conservation

This boronia is classified as "least concern" by the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. [6]

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<i>Boronia inflexa</i> species of plant

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<i>Boronia palasepala</i> species of plant

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<i>Boronia parviflora</i> Species of plant

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<i>Boronia polygalifolia</i> species of plant

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<i>Boronia quinkanensis</i> species of plant

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<i>Boronia rubiginosa</i> species of plant

Boronia rubiginosa is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to New South Wales in Australia. It is a shrub with pinnate leaves that are paler on the lower surface, and up to three pale to bright pink, four-petalled flowers in the leaf axils.

<i>Boronia splendida</i> species of plant

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<i>Boronia squamipetala</i> species of plant

Boronia squamipetala is a species of plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae, and is endemic to Queensland, Australia. It is an erect shrub with pinnate leaves with between five and thirteen elliptic leaflets, and green to white, four-petalled flowers with hairy backs.

References

  1. "Boronia excelsa". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Duretto, Marco F. (1999). "Boronia sect. Valvatae (Benth.) Engl. (Rutaceae) in Queensland Australia". Austrobaileya. 5 (2): 284–285.
  3. Duretto, Marco F.; Wilson, Paul G.; Ladiges, Pauline Y. "Boronia excelsa". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  4. "Boronia excelsa". APNI. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  5. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 311.
  6. "Species recovery Boronia excelsa". Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. Retrieved 9 March 2019.