Hibbertia spicata

Hibbertia spicata
In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Dilleniales
Family:	Dilleniaceae
Genus:	Hibbertia
Species:	H. spicata
Binomial name
Hibbertia spicata Diels [1]

Hibbertia spicata is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to the west of Western Australia. It is a low, erect to spreading shrub with scattered linear leaves with the edges rolled under and yellow flowers with six or seven stamens on one side of two softly-hairy carpels, and a larger number of staminodes.

Description

Hibbertia spicata is an erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 70 cm (28 in), its older stems covered with papery bark. The leaves are linear, mostly 12–25 mm (0.47–0.98 in) long and 1.2–2.0 mm (0.047–0.079 in) wide with the edges rolled under, sometimes obscuring the hairy lower surface. The flowers are crowded along a cincinnus of eight to fourteen flowers, all but the lowest with two bracts at the base. The five sepals are egg-shaped, 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long and the five petals are yellow, 7.5–8 mm (0.30–0.31 in) long and egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. There are six or seven stamens fused at the base on one side of the two softly-hairy carpels, and ten to fourteen staminodes arranged around the carpels, each carpel with two ovules. Flowering occurs from April to October. ^{[2] [3]}

Taxonomy

Hibbertia spicata was first formally described in 1860 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected at Port Gregory by Pemberton Walcott and Augustus Frederick Oldfield. ^{[4] [5]} The specific epithet (spicata) means "spicate". ^[6]

In 1984, Judith Roderick Wheeler described two subspecies and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Hibbertia spicata subsp. leptothecaK.R.Thiele ^[7] has few, or no staminodes, and the outer two sepals more or less glabrous; ^[2]
• Hibbertia spicataF.Muell. subsp. spicata ^[8] has six to twelve staminodes and the outer two sepals are hairy. ^[2]

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies leptotheca grows on near-coastal limestone between Lancelin and the Yalgorup National Park and subspecies spicata grows in a variety of soils in heathland on the Darling Range. ^{[2] [9]}

See also

• List of Hibbertia species

References

1. "Hibbertia spicata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
2. Wheeler, Junith R. (1984). "Taxonomic notes on some Western Australian species of Hibbertia (Dilleniaceae)". Nuytsia. 5 (1): 34–37. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
3. Thiele, Kevin R. (2019). "The Hibbertia polystachya – H. spicata (Dilleniaceae) species group in Western Australia" (PDF). Nuytsia. 30: 299–300. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
4. "Hibbertia spicata". APNI. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
5. von Mueller, Ferdinand (1860). Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. 2. Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
6. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 310. ISBN   9780958034180.
7. "Hibbertia spicata subsp. leptotheca". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
8. "Hibbertia spicata subsp. spicata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
9. "Hibbertia spicata". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.