Kunzea flavescens

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Kunzea flavescens
Kunzea flavescens.jpg
In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Kunzea
Species:
K. flavescens
Binomial name
Kunzea flavescens

Kunzea flavescens is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a spreading shrub which has egg-shaped leaves and groups of white or cream-coloured flowers on the ends of the branches in September and October.

Contents

Description

Kunzea flavescens is a spreading shrub, sometimes a small tree which usually grows to a height of about 3 m (10 ft) but sometimes to 7 m (20 ft). The leaves are arranged alternately along the branches and are oblong to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. They are mostly 4–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 1.5–2.5 mm (0.06–0.1 in) wide on a pedicel less than 1 mm (0.04 in) long. The leaves are flat, slightly hairy when young and have more than sixty oil glands visible on the lower surface. The flowers are white or cream-coloured and arranged in rounded groups of eight to fifteen flowers on the ends of the branches. There are egg-shaped bracts which are 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and about 2 mm (0.08 in) wide and smaller paired bracteoles at the base of each flower. The floral cup is 3–3.5 mm (0.12–0.14 in) long and hairy. The sepals are triangular, about 1.5–2 mm (0.06–0.08 in) long and hairy on their edges. The petals are oblong to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, about 1.5–2 mm (0.06–0.08 in) long and there are about fifty stamens 2–3.5 mm (0.08–0.1 in) long, in several rows. Flowering occurs mainly in September and October and is followed by fruit which an urn-shaped capsule about 5 mm (0.2 in) long. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Kunzea flavescens was first formally described in 1922 by Cyril White and William Francis from a specimen found near Crows Nest by Frederick Hamilton Kenny. The description was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland . [1] [2] The specific epithet (flavescens) is a Latin word meaning "slightly yellow". [4]

Distribution and habitat

Growing on rocky ridges in heath and open woodland, K. flavenscens occurs in a few areas in south-east Queensland including near Crows Nest and Biggenden Bluff in the Mount Walsh National Park. [2] [5]

Conservation

Kunzea flavescens is classified as "Least Concern" under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992 . [3]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Kunzea pulchella</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Kunzea baxteri</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Kunzea parvifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Kunzea muelleri</i> Species of flowering plant

Kunzea muelleri, commonly known as yellow kunzea, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to mountainous areas of south-eastern Australia. It is a low-growing, spreading shrub with linear leaves and small groups of pale yellow, stalkless flowers that appear in the summer.

<i>Kunzea montana</i> Species of flowering plant

Kunzea montana, commonly known as mountain kunzea, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with more or less round leaves and heads of cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers on the ends of the branches in late spring. It is an uncommon species, growing on rocky mountain slopes, but all populations are conserved in the Stirling Range National Park.

Kunzea aristulata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is an erect, spreading shrub similar to Kunzea rupestris but is distinguished from it mainly by the shape of its leaves. It is only known from a remote area north of Yerranderie where it often grows on cliff edges.

<i>Kunzea obovata</i> Species of shrub

Kunzea obovata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a spreading shrub with unusually-shaped leaves and clusters of pink to purple flowers. It is restricted to northern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland.

<i>Kunzea badjaensis</i> Species of shrub

Kunzea badjaensis is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is a shrub with egg-shaped leaves and clusters of white flowers near the end of the branches. It grows at high altitudes on the Southern Tablelands.

Kunzea caduca is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a spreading shrub with linear to lance-shaped leaves and groups of white to cream-coloured flowers on the ends of all the branches from late winter to early spring. It is only known from a few locations and only conserved in the Castle Tower National Park near Gladstone.

Kunzea calida is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland, Australia. It is a spreading shrub which has linear to lance-shaped leaves but which are rolled, making them appear cylindrical. The flowers are pinkish-purple and arranged in groups near the ends of the branches in September. It is only known in remote and rugged areas of the Mount Stewart Ranges near Homestead.

<i>Kunzea cambagei</i> Species of flowering plant

Kunzea cambagei, commonly known as the Cambage kunzea is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is a small shrub with egg-shaped leaves and clusters of cream-coloured to yellowish flowers near the end of the branches. It is only known from areas near Mount Werong in the Kanangra-Boyd National Park and Berrima.

Kunzea dactylota is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is a spreading shrub with small, finger-shaped leaves and clusters of white flowers near the end of the branches. It grows at high altitudes on the Southern Tablelands of the state.

<i>Kunzea graniticola</i> Species of shrub

Kunzea graniticola is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a shrub or small tree with linear to egg-shaped leaves and rounded groups of white or cream-coloured flowers on the ends of the branches in August and September. It is only known from forests near Cardwell and on Hinchinbrook Island.

Kunzea juniperoides is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is a small shrub with narrow leaves and small groups of white flowers near the end of the longer branches. It is distinguished from similar kunzeas by the large number of scale-like perules and bracts surrounding the groups of flowers.

<i>Kunzea linearis</i> Species of flowering plant

Kunzea linearis, also known by the Maori name rawiri manuka, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to New Zealand. It is a densely-foliaged shrub or small tree, characterised by very narrow leaves and clusters of small white flowers with five petals and a large number of stamens, which are longer than the petals. It grows in the north of the North Island and is the most distinctive of the New Zealand kunzeas.

<i>Kunzea occidentalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Kunzea occidentalis is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a western New South Wales. It is a shrub with narrow leaves and small groups of white flowers on leafy side-branches. It is distinguished from the similar Kunzea ambigua by the flanges on the sides of its young branches.

<i>Kunzea opposita</i> Species of shrub

Kunzea opposita is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a spindly shrub which has small leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and pink flowers with five petals and many stamens, the stamens much longer than the petals. It usually grows in woodland or on exposed cliffs.

Kunzea petrophila is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the Northern Territory. It is a spreading shrub with hairy branches and leaves, narrow leaves and cream-coloured flowers in more or less spherical groups, usually on the ends of the main branches.

Kunzea sericothrix is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a small shrub with linear to lance-shaped leaves. It is only known from a single collection, and the details of its flowers are provisional.

References

  1. 1 2 "Kunzea flavescens". APNI. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Toelken, Helmut R. (2016). "Revision of Kunzea (Myrtaceae). 2. Subgenera Angasomyrtus and Salisia from Western Australia and subgenera Kunzea and Niviferae (sections Platyphyllae and Pallidiflorae) from eastern Australia" (PDF). Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 29: 124–125. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Kunzea flavescens". Queensland Government Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  4. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 872.
  5. Byrnes, Norman B. (1982). "Notes on the genus Kunzea (Myrtaceae) in Queensland". Austrobaileya. 5: 469.