Kunzea preissiana

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Kunzea preissiana
Kunzea preissiana.jpg
Kunzea preissiana in the Fitzgerald River National Park
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Kunzea
Species:
K. preissiana
Binomial name
Kunzea preissiana
Synonyms [1]
  • Kunzea preissiana var. glabraBlackall & Grieve nom. inval., nom. nud.
  • Kunzea preissianaSchauer var. preissiana
  • Kunzea preissiana var. villiceps(Schauer) Benth.
  • Kunzea villicepsSchauer
  • Kunzea villiceps var. glabriorDomin
  • Kunzea villicepsSchauer var. villiceps

Kunzea preissiana is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a shrub with hairy branches and leaves, pink to mauve flowers in groups on the ends of shoots, and twenty to thirty stamens about the same length as the petals. It is a widespread, often locally common species across its range.

Contents

Description

Kunzea preissiana is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5 to 1.8 metres (2 to 6 ft) with a few erect stems, each with spreading stems densely covered with fine hairs. The leaves are almost flat, linear to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, hairy on both sides, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long and 0.5–1 mm (0.02–0.04 in) wide on a petiole about 0.5 mm (0.020 in) long. The flowers are arranged in groups of between about three and seven on the ends of shoots that continue to grow after flowering. There are hairy bracts and bracteoles at the base of the flowers, distinguishing this species from the similar K. affinis . The flower cup is densely hairy, about 3–3.5 mm (0.12–0.14 in) long. The sepal lobes are densely hairy, egg-shaped to lance-shaped and 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long. The petals are more or less egg-shaped, 2.5–3 mm (0.098–0.12 in) long and there are between 18 and 32 stamens about the same length as the petals. Flowering mainly occurs in September and October and the fruit is a hairy, urn-shaped capsule with the sepals spreading at right angles. [2] [3] [4]

This is a widespread kunze in the southwest and there is considerable variation in the species, especially in the hairs on the leaves and flower parts and some forms are very similar to K. acicularis . [5]

Taxonomy and naming

Kunzea preissiana was first formally described by the botanist Johannes Conrad Schauer in 1844 in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's book Plantae Preissianae . [6] [7]

Distribution and habitat

This kunzea grows in gravelly lateritic soil in kwongan and shrubland between Narrogin, Albany and to the east of Hopetoun in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Mallee biogeographic regions. [2] [3] [4]

Conservation

Kunzea preissiana is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife. [3]

Related Research Articles

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

Kunzea is a genus of plants in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to Australasia. They are shrubs, sometimes small trees and usually have small, crowded, rather aromatic leaves. The flowers are similar to those of plants in the genus Leptospermum but differ in having stamens that are longer than the petals. Most kunzeas are endemic to Western Australia but a few occur in eastern Australia and a few are found in New Zealand. The taxonomy of the genus is not settled and is complicated by the existence of a number of hybrids.

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

Kunzea salina is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading, densely branched shrub with leaves mostly arranged in opposite pairs and usually two sessile pale pink to white flowers arranged at the base of new shoots. It only grows near the edge of certain salt lakes.

<i>Verticordia habrantha</i>

Verticordia habrantha, commonly known as hidden featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender shrub with short, leafy side-branches and long flowering stems with rounded heads of mostly white flowers. Its hairy sepals are mostly hidden by the round, unfringed petals, and as a result, the plant looks like shrubs in the genus Chamelaucium, to which it is closely related.

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

Kunzea pulchella, commonly known as granite kunzea, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with spreading branches, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and loose groups of red flowers, each on a short stalk so that the branch is visible between the flowers.

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

Kunzea baxteri, commonly known as scarlet kunzea, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia where it occurs near granite outcrops and hills. It is a shrub with large, scarlet, bottlebrush-like flower clusters, making it popular as a garden feature.

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

Kunzea parvifolia, commonly known as the violet kunzea, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a wiry shrub with small, narrow leaves and clusters of pink to purple flowers in spring.

Verticordia lehmannii is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is slender shrub with only a few branches, well-spaced, oppositely arranged leaves and small heads of pale pink to silvery flowers with a dark pink centre.

Kunzea acicularis is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with a few erect stems, small and groups of three to five, pink to mauve flowers. It is a rare, recently described species only known from a small area near Ravensthorpe.

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

Kunzea ciliata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub which typically grows to a height of 0.8 to 1.5 metres and blooms between October and November producing pink flowers.

Kunzea cincinnata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area on the south coast of Western Australia. It is a shrub which typically grows to a height of 0.6 to 1 metre and blooms between September and October producing pink to red-purple flowers.

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

Kunzea micrantha is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It blooms between September and December producing pink-purple to white-cream flowers. A widespread and variable species, it is difficult to distinguish from K. praestans and from K. micromera where their range overlap.

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

Kunzea micromera is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. It is a small, sparse shrub, similar in some respects to K. micrantha but has shorter, more rounded sepal lobes. It produces groups of pink flowers on the ends of a few long shoots in spring.

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

Kunzea similis is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area along the south coast of Western Australia. It is a shrub with linear to lance-shaped leaves with a single vein, and spherical groups of between four and ten pink flowers on the ends of shoots.

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

Kunzea pauciflora, the Mount Melville kunzea, is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to a small area on the south coast of Western Australia. It is a shrub with the stems densely branched near their ends, linear leaves and one, two or three pink flowers near the ends of the branches but usually only at the top of the shrub.

Kunzea praestans is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with sessile leaves and groups of about fourteen to twenty pink flowers in more or less spherical groups on the end of the branches.

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

Kunzea recurva is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an uncommon shrub with small leaves and groups of pink or purplish flowers on the ends of the branches.

<i>Leptospermum erubescens</i> Species of shrub

Leptospermum erubescens, commonly known as the roadside tea tree, is a species of shrub that is endemic to southwest of Western Australia. It has thin, fibrous bark, egg-shaped leaves, small white flowers and woody fruit.

<i>Leptospermum glaucescens</i> Species of shrub

Leptospermum glaucescens, commonly known as the blue-green tea tree or smoky tea tree, is a species of shrub or small tree that is endemic to Tasmania. It has elliptical to egg-shaped leaves that are often greyish green, white flowers about 15 mm (0.59 in) in diameter arranged in consecutive leaf axils and fruit that remain on the plant for some time after maturity.

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 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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Kunzea preissiana". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 Toelken, Helmut R. (1996). "A revision of te genus Kunzea (Myrtaceae) 1. The Western Australian section Zeanuk" (PDF). Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 17: 92–95. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Kunzea preissiana". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. 1 2 Corrick, Margaret G.; Fuhrer, Bruce A. (2009). Wildflowers of southern Western Australia (3rd ed.). Dural, N.S.W.: Rosenberg Publishing. pp. 130–131. ISBN   9781877058844.
  5. ↑ Toelken, Helmut R.; Craig, Gillian F. (2007). "Kunzea acicularis, K. strigosa and K. similis subsp. mediterranea (Myrtaceae) - new taxa from near Ravensthorpe, Western Australia" (PDF). Nuytsia. 17 (1): 391. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  6. ↑ "Kunzea preissiana". APNI. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  7. ↑ Schauer, Johannes Conrad; Lehmann, Johann Georg Christian (ed.) (1844). Plantae Preissianae (Volume 1). Hamburg: Sumptibus Meissneri. p. 125. Retrieved 30 March 2019.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
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