Myoporum brevipes

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Pale myoporum
Myoporum brevipes.jpg
Myoporum brevipes growing in South Australia
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Genus: Myoporum
Species:
M. brevipes
Binomial name
Myoporum brevipes

Myoporum brevipes, commonly known as the pale myoporum, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is sometimes a prostrate, others an erect shrub. Its branches and leaves are warty and it has white or pink flowers, often spotted, followed by succulent white fruits. It generally grows in arid areas in South Australia but has also been found in Victoria and Western Australia.

Contents

Description

Myoporum brevipes is a shrub, sometimes prostrate, others erect and spreading. It grows to a height of 2 metres (7 ft) high and has wart-like tubercles covering its branches and leaves. The leaves are arranged alternately and are thick, often fleshy, 2.5–28 millimetres (0.1–1 in) long, 1.2–8 millimetres (0.05–0.3 in) wide. They are variable in shape but often egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. [1] [2]

The flowers are arranged in groups of 1 to 5 in the axils of the leaves and have 5 sepals and 5 white or pink petals joined at their base to form a tube and often spotted with pink or purple. The tube is 1.5–5.5 millimetres (0.06–0.2 in) long and the lobes are 1.5–3.5 millimetres (0.06–0.1 in) long and warty. There are 4 stamens which extend beyond the petals. Flowering occurs between October and February and is followed by white fruits which are drupes, 2.5–6.5 millimetres (0.1–0.3 in) in diameter and oval or roughly spherical in shape. [1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Myoporum brevipes was first formally described in 1870 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis from a specimen collected on an expedition of John McDouall Stuart. [3] [4] The specific epithet (brevipes) is derived from the Latin words brevis meaning "short" [5] :708 and pes meaning "foot", [5] :343"probably referring to the short pedicels (flower stalks) in the material available to Bentham." [1]

Distribution and habitat

Myoporum brevipes occurs mainly in South Australia, although there are small populations in Western Australia. It is very rare in Victoria with only a few individual plants near Boinka. It grows in sandy soils containing calcium carbonate on sand dunes or near saline lakes and often in disturbed situations such as roadsides. [1] [2]

Conservation

Myoporum brevipes is classified as not threatened in Western Australia [6] or South Australia but is classified as endangered in Victoria. [2]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Myoporum montanum</i> Species of plant

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<i>Eremophila microtheca</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Calothamnus gibbosus</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Phymatocarpus porphyrocephalus</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Myoporum boninense</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Myoporum caprarioides</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Myoporum cordifolium</i> Species of shrub

Myoporum cordifolium, commonly known as Jerramungup myoporum, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is a shrub with thin, stiff branches and tiny, heart-shaped leaves, both covered with wart-like tubercles. Single white flowers with purple spots develop in the leaf axils and are followed by wrinkled green or brown fruits. It is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia

<i>Myoporum oppositifolium</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Myoporum platycarpum</i> Species of plant

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<i>Myoporum tetrandrum</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Myoporum turbinatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Myoporum turbinatum, commonly known as salt myoporum, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a small area near Esperance in Western Australia. It is closely related to Myoporum platycarpum but has much narrower leaves and differently shaped fruit. Its sticky branches and narrow, warty leaves are distinctive.

<i>Myoporum velutinum</i> Species of flowering plant

Myoporum velutinum is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a small area near Esperance in Western Australia. It has similar flowers and fruits and grows in similar environments to Myoporum tetrandrum but differs from it and all other members of the genus by having hairs on the outer edge of the petals.

<i>Phebalium tuberculosum</i> Species of shrub

Phebalium tuberculosum is a species of erect shrub that is endemic to Western Australia. It has glandular-warty and scaly branchlets and leaves and white flowers arranged in umbels of three or four with rust-coloured scales on the back of the petals.

<i>Pultenaea subspicata</i> Species of plant


Pultenaea subspicata, commonly known as low bush-pea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a low-lying, prostrate or mat-forming shrub with elliptic leaves and yellow to pink and orange-red, pea-like flowers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Chinnock, R.J. (Bob) (2007). Eremophila and allied genera : a monograph of the plant family Myoporaceae (1st ed.). Dural, NSW: Rosenberg. pp. 132–133. ISBN   9781877058165 . Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Clunie, Pam; Allen, Geoffrey. "Action Statement: Myoporum brevipes" (PDF). Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  3. "Myoporum brevipes". APNI. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  4. Bentham, George; von Mueller, Ferdinand (1870). Flora Australiensis (Volume V). London: Lovell Reeve and Co. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  5. 1 2 Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  6. "Myoporum brevipes". FloraBase. Retrieved 1 September 2015.