Commersonia dasyphylla

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Commersonia dasyphylla
Commersonia dasyphylla.jpg
In the Gibraltar Range National Park
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Genus: Commersonia
Species:
C. dasyphylla
Binomial name
Commersonia dasyphylla
Synonyms
List
    • Buettneria dasyphylla F.Muell. orth. var.
    • Buettneria pannosa Benth. orth. var.
    • Buttneria dasyphylla J.Gay orth. var.
    • Buttneria inodora DC. nom. inval., pro syn.
    • Byttneria dasyphylla(Andrews) J.Gay
    • Byttneria dasyphylla(Andrews) DC. isonym
    • Byttneria pannosa(R.Br.) DC.
    • Lasiopetalum tomentosumJ.Gay nom. inval., pro syn.
    • Restiaria dasyphylla(Andrews) Kuntze
    • Rulingia dasyphylla(Andrews) Sweet
    • Rulingia pannosa R.Br.
A young plant cultivated in Sydney Rulingia dasyphylla crop.jpg
A young plant cultivated in Sydney

Commersonia dasyphylla, commonly known as kerrawang, [2] is a species of flowering plant of the family Malvaceae and is endemic to eastern continental Australia. It is a shrub with egg-shaped to lance-shaped with irregular edges and flowers in groups of up to 21, followed by hairy brown capsules.

Contents

Description

Kerrawang grows as a shrub reaching 1–4 m (3 ft 3 in – 13 ft 1 in) in height with its stems covered in fine hairs. The dark green leaves are prominently wrinkled, egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 30–70 mm (1.2–2.8 in) long and 5–30 mm (0.20–1.18 in) wide on a petiole 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) long, and have toothed or lobed margins. The upper surface of the leaves is hairy and the lower surface is densely covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in groups of ten to twenty-one, each flower about 8 mm (0.31 in) in diameter. The sepals are 3–5.5 mm (0.12–0.22 in) long and 1.5–3.5 mm (0.059–0.138 in) wide, the petals pinkish or white and about half as long as the sepals. Flowering occurs from September to January and the flowers are followed by hairy brown capsules 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) in diameter. [3] [4] [5]

Commersonia dasyphylla is very similar to C. breviseta and C. rugosa and is difficult to distinguish without fruit, other than from the structure of the star-shaped flowers on the lower leaf surface. [3]

Taxonomy

Commersonia dasyphylla was initially described in 1810 by Henry Cranke Andrews in his book The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants. [6] [7] It was then placed in the genus Rulingia by Robert Sweet in 1826 where it remained until its original name was restored in 2011. [8] [9] The genus name commemorates 18th-century French naturalist Philibert Commerson, while the species name is derived from Ancient Greek dasys "hairy" and phyllon "leaf", [10] and refers to cottonlike hairs covering the leaves. [4]

Range and ecology

The range is across eastern Australia from southeastern Queensland through New South Wales and into eastern Victoria, the preferred habitat is gullies in forested areas. [3] [4] Flies are the likely most common pollinators, and native bees, beetles, and diurnal moths may do so as well. The kerrawang is killed by bushfire and regenerates from seed. [11]

Conservation status

In Victoria, the species is listed as "threatened" under the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 and "vulnerable" on the Department of Sustainability and Environment's Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants in Victoria. [2]

Uses

Its fibres were used for basket making by the local Cadigal people of Sydney. [12] The kerrawang, an Australian shrub, should not be confused with the kurrajong, an Australian tree whose bark is used to make twine. [13]

First cultivated in England in 1819 as Rulingia pannosa, the kerrawang is a fast-growing and ornamental shrub. It prefers semishaded areas with fair drainage and mildly acid soil. It seeds readily, and can be easily propagated from seed or cuttings. [4]

Related Research Articles

<i>Commersonia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Commersonia is a genus of twenty-five species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. Plants in this genus are shrubs or trees, occurring from Indochina to Australia and have stems, leaves and flowers covered with star-like hairs. The leaves are simple, often with irregularly-toothed edges, the flowers bisexual with five sepals, five petals and five stamens and the fruit a capsule with five valves. The genus underwent a revision in 2011 and some species were separated from Commersonia, others were added from Rulingia.

<i>Androcalva fraseri</i> Species of tree

Androcalva fraseri, commonly known as blackfellow's hemp or brush kurrajong, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a small tree or shrub that forms suckers and has egg-shaped or lance-shaped leaves with serrated edges, and clusters of 13 to 21 white flowers.

<i>Commersonia borealis</i> Species of flowering plant

Commersonia borealis is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a low growing, spreading shrub with egg-shaped to oblong leaves, and white, yellow and cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Commersonia hermanniifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Commersonia hermanniifolia, commonly known as wrinkled kerrawang, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a prostrate or trailing shrub with oblong to lance-shaped leaves that are paler on the lower surface, and flowers with five white sepals fading to pink and five pinkish petals.

<i>Commersonia breviseta</i> Species of flowering plant

Commersonia breviseta is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to eastern Australia. It is a dwarf shrub with densely-hairy, egg-shaped to narrow elliptic leaves that are paler on the lower surface, and flowers with five white sepals with pink edges, five smaller pale yellow petals and dark red stamens.

<i>Commersonia craurophylla</i> Species of plant

Commersonia craurophylla, commonly known as brittle leaved rulingia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to southern continental Australia. It is a dense, spreading shrub with crinkled, narrowly oblong to linear leaves, and white to cream-coloured flowers.

Commersonia corylifolia, commonly known as hazel-leaved rulingia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a spreading, erect shrub with egg-shaped to narrowly egg-shaped leaves, and white to cream-coloured flowers.

Commersonia grandiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect, open shrub with hairy, egg-shaped to elliptic leaves, and white or cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Commersonia magniflora</i> Species of plant

Commersonia magniflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to Australia. It is an erect shrub with wrinkled, narrowly oblong to elliptic or egg-shaped leaves, and deep pink flowers.

Commersonia parviflora, commonly known as small flowered rulingia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a low, prostrate or dense shrub with wrinkled, egg-shaped leaves with rounded teeth on the edges, and clusters of small, white flowers.

<i>Commersonia prostrata</i> Species of flowering plant

Commersonia prostrata, commonly known as dwarf kerrawang, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to eastern continental Australia. It is a prostrate shrub with trailing branches, egg-shaped leaves, the lower surface densely covered with star-like hairs, white, petal-like sepals, and smaller, pinkish petals.

Commersonia rotundifolia, commonly known as round-leaved rulingia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an upright, openly-branched shrub with elliptic to round leaves with wavy edges, and white flowers in clusters of 3 to 10.

<i>Commersonia rugosa</i> Species of plant

Commersonia rugosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and endemic to New South Wales. It is an open, straggly shrub with linear to narrowly egg-shaped leaves with irregular teeth or lobes on the edges, and white flowers in clusters of 3 to 15.

<i>Commersonia erythrogyna</i> Species of flowering plant

Commersonia erythrogyna, commonly known as Trigwell's rulingia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to a restricted part of the south-west of Western Australia. It is an open, straggly shrub with oblong to egg-shaped leaves and creamy-white flowers.

Androcalva beeronensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a shrub that forms suckers from rhizomes and has branchlets and leaves covered with soft, golden hairs, the leaves egg-shaped to lance-shaped with toothed edges, and clusters of 9 to 24 cream-coloured to white flowers.

Androcalva inglewoodensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is a spreading, prostrate shrub that has hairy young branchlets, egg-shaped to elliptic leaves with irregularly serrated edges, and small groups of white to cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Androcalva johnsonii</i> Species of shrub

Androcalva johnsonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to central Queensland. It is a low, spreading shrub that has hairy young branches, narrowly egg-shaped or oblong leaves with rounded teeth, and small groups of white to pale pink flowers.

<i>Androcalva leichhardtii</i> Species of shrub

Androcalva leichhardtii is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to central Queensland. It is a small shrub with hairy new growth, wrinkled, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves with irregular serrations on the edges, and small groups of yellow flowers.

<i>Androcalva multiloba</i> Species of shrub

Androcalva multiloba is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia. It is a dwarf shrub with densely hairy, irregularly serrated, egg-shaped leaves, and up to 5 white and red flowers arranged opposite leaf axils or on the ends of branches.

<i>Androcalva pedleyi</i> Species of shrub

Androcalva pedleyi is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is low, spreading or prostrate shrub that forms suckers and has softly-hairy new growth, linear to lance-shaped leaves with lobes on the edges, and groups of 7 to 10 white, later pink flowers.

References

  1. "Commersonia dasyphylla". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Advisory List of Rare Or Threatened Plants In Victoria - 2014" (PDF). Department of Sustainability and Environment (Victoria). Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Gwen J. Harden. "Commersonia dasyphylla (Andrews)". PlantNET - NSW Flora Online. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Elliot, Rodger W.; Jones, David L.; Blake, Trevor (2002). Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation: Volume 8 – Pr-So. Port Melbourne: Lothian Press. pp. 256–57. ISBN   0-7344-0378-X.
  5. Wilkins, Carolyn F.; Whitlock, Barbara A. "Commersonia dasyphylla". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  6. "Commersonia dasyphylla". APNI. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  7. Andrews, Henry C. (1810). The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants. London. p. 603. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  8. "Commersonia dasyphylla". APNI. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  9. C. F. Wilkins; B. A. Whitlock (2011), "A new Australian genus, Androcalva, separated from Commersonia (Malvaceae s.l. or Byttneriaceae)", Australian Systematic Botany, 24: 284–349, doi:10.1071/SB10032
  10. Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott (1980). A Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged Edition). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p.  150. ISBN   0-19-910207-4.
  11. Benson, Doug; McDougall, Lyn (2001). "Ecology of Sydney plant species - Part 8 Dicotyledon families Rutaceae to Zygophyllaceae". Cunninghamia. 7 (2): 393. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  12. "Plants used for Tools". Marrickville Council website. Petersham, New South Wales. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  13. Dixon, R.M.W.; Moore, Bruce; Ramson, W. S.; Thomas, Mandy (2006). Australian Aboriginal Words in English: Their Origin and Meaning (2nd ed.). South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN   0-19-554073-5.