Muniria lanceolata

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Muniria lanceolata
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Muniria
Species:
M. lanceolata
Binomial name
Muniria lanceolata
(Munir) N.Streiber & B.J.Conn [1]

Muniria lanceolata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is a shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with a layer of short, greyish, branched hairs and red flowers near the ends of the branches.

Contents

Description

Muniria lanceolata is shrub which grows to a height of 1–2 m (3–7 ft) and has branches that have four corners in cross-section. The branches, leaves and some of the flower parts are densely covered with short greyish, branched hairs. The leaves have a thin stalk 6–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) long and an elliptic to lance-shaped blade 4–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 6–20 mm (0.2–0.8 in) wide. The leaves are dark green, and wrinkled on the upper surface. [2]

The flowers are arranged singly or in groups of up to three in leaf axils near the ends of the branches, each flower on a hairy stalk 1–3 mm (0.04–0.1 in) long. The flowers are surrounded by bracts which are similar in size and shape to the leaves and by smaller bracteoles. The five sepals are 10–16 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long, hairy and joined for about half their length into a tube. The petals are red, 20–27 mm (0.8–1 in) long and joined to form a tube 14–22 mm (0.6–0.9 in) long. The tube is densely woolly on the outside but mostly glabrous inside except for a narrow ring of hairs around the ovary and a few hairs on the largest petal lobe. There are five lobes on the end of the tube, the lower, central lobe roughly circular, 4–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and 3–7 mm (0.1–0.3 in) wide at the base and larger than the other lobes which are a similar size and shape to each other. The four stamens reach past the end of the tube, the lower pair longer than the upper ones. Flowering occurs in most months and is followed by fruit which is oval-shaped but with four distinct ridges and hairy at one end. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1979 by Ahmad Abid Munir from a specimen collected near Oenpelli (present day Gunbalanya). It was given the name Pityrodia lanceolata and the description was published in Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. [2] [4] In 2011, Barry Conn, Murray Henwood and Nicola Streiber described a new genus, Muniria and transferred this species to it. [1] The specific epithet (lanceolata) is a Latin word meaning "lancelike". [5]

Distribution

This species only occurs in Arnhem Land where it is found in Nitmiluk National Park. [3]

Conservation

Muniria lanceolata is classified as "least concern" under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act . [3]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Quoya atriplicina</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Pityrodia loricata</i> Species of plant

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<i>Muniria quadrangulata</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Hemiphora bartlingii</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Pityrodia byrnesii</i> Species of flowering plant

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Muniria angustisepala is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the Northern Territory. It is an erect shrub with softly hairy, warty leaves and pale yellow, woolly flowers.

<i>Quoya dilatata</i> Species of flowering plant

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Muniria megalophylla is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is a shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with a layer of short, greyish, branched hairs and small groups of reddish-pink flowers near the ends of the branches.

<i>Hemiphora exserta</i> Species of flowering plant

Hemiphora exserta is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with its branches densely covered with white, woolly hairs. Its leaves are rough and wrinkled and the flowers are deep pink or dark red, curved and tube-shaped with spreading petal lobes on the end.

<i>Pityrodia gilruthiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia gilruthiana is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is a dark green, spreading shrub with sticky, glandular branches and leaves and fragrant, off-white, bell-like flowers with purple stripes on the end.

<i>Pityrodia lanuginosa</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Pityrodia obliqua</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia obliqua is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy stems, wrinkled, egg-shaped leaves and pink, bell-like flowers with purple streaks inside.

<i>Pityrodia puberula</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia puberula is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is a straggling shrub with narrow, hairy leaves arranged in four rows and off-white, bell-like flowers with dark purple streaks.

<i>Pityrodia pungens</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia pungens is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the northern part of the Northern Territory. It is an erect, spreading shrub with narrow, prickly leaves and off-white, bell-like flowers with dark purple streaks.

<i>Pityrodia ternifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia ternifolia is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. It is an erect shrub with densely hairy stems, sticky and prickly, egg-shaped leaves, and mauve or pinkish-red, tube-shaped flowers.

<i>Pityrodia serrata</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia serrata is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the northern part of the Northern Territory. It is an erect shrub with sharply-pointed, egg-shaped leaves with serrated edges, and off-white, bell-shaped flowers streaked with purple.

<i>Pityrodia spenceri</i> Species of flowering plant

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References

  1. 1 2 "Muniria lanceolata". APNI. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Munir, Ahmad Abid (1979). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Pityrodia (Chloanthaceae)". Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. 2 (1): 33–35.
  3. 1 2 3 "Muniria lanceolata". Northern Territory Government; flora NT. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  4. "Pityrodia lanceolata". APNI. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  5. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 735.