Myoporum viscosum

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Sticky boobialla
Myoporum viscosum.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Genus: Myoporum
Species:
M. viscosum
Binomial name
Myoporum viscosum
Synonyms [1]
  • Myoporum glandulosum(Spin) Spin
  • Myoporum serratum var. glandulosum (Spin) Benth.

Myoporum viscosum, commonly known as sticky boobialla, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to South Australia. It is unusual in that sometimes, especially when the leaves are crushed, it has an extremely unpleasant smell.

Contents

Description

Myoporum viscosum is a shrub which sometimes grows to 2 metres (7 ft) in height with young branches that are flattened and sticky. The leaves are arranged alternately and mostly 20–52 millimetres (0.8–2 in) long, 7–20 millimetres (0.3–0.8 in) wide, thick and stiff. The base of the leaf partly wraps around the stem and the leaf blade is folded or curved with serrated edges and has many oil dots. [2] [3] [4]

The flowers appear in the leaf axils in clusters of 5 to 8 on a stalk 4–8 millimetres (0.2–0.3 in) long. There are 5 triangular sepals and 5 petals joined at their bases to form a bell-shaped tube. The petals are white with a slight purplish flush and purple spots. The petal tube is 3–4 millimetres (0.1–0.2 in) long, the lobes are about the same length and the inside of the tube as well as the bases of the lobes are hairy. The main flowering period is from June to November and is followed by fruits which are succulent, rounded purplish drupes around 3–5 millimetres (0.1–0.2 in) in diameter. [2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy and naming

Myoporum viscosum was first formally described by botanist Robert Brown in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae in 1810 [1] [5] from a specimen collected at Memory Cove. The specific epithet is derived from the Latin word viscum meaning "bird-lime" with the ending -osus "abounding in", that is, "sticky" or "viscid". [2] [6]

Distribution and habitat

For many years this species has been confused with the much more common species Myoporum petiolatum which has thinner, noticeably petiolate and non-odorous leaves. [2] Myoporum viscosum has a restricted distribution encompassing Kangaroo Island and coastal areas of the Eyre and Yorke peninsulas. [2]

Use in horticulture

Sticky boobialla is a hardy plant which can tolerate salt spray and can be used as a low screening plant. It is readily propagated from cuttings and grows best in full sun. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Eremophila oppositifolia</i> Species of plant

Eremophila oppositifolia, commonly known as weeooka, twin-leaf emu bush and mountain sandalwood, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae, and is endemic to Australia. It is a shrub or small tree with its leaves arranged in opposite pairs and has cream to red or sometimes maroon coloured flowers. It occurs in all mainland states, but not the Northern Territory.

<i>Eremophila scoparia</i> Species of plant

Eremophila scoparia, commonly known as silver emubush, is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a broom-like shrub with narrow, hooked leaves, small sepals and deep lilac-coloured to white petals and is common and widespread in southern parts of the continent.

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

Myoporum insulare, commonly known as common boobialla, native juniper, is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of Australia. It is a shrub or small tree which grows on dunes and coastal cliffs, is very salt tolerant and widely used in horticulture.

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

Myoporum parvifolium, commonly known as creeping boobialla, creeping myoporum, dwarf native myrtle or small leaved myoporum is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is a low, spreading shrub with long, trailing stems and white, star-shaped flowers and is endemic to southern Australia including Flinders Island.

<i>Dendrobium teretifolium</i>

Dendrobium teretifolium, commonly known as the thin pencil orchid, rat's tail orchid or bridal veil orchid, is an epiphytic or lithophytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae. It has long, thin hanging stems, pencil-like leaves and rigid flowering stems bearing up to twelve crowded white to cream-coloured flowers. It grows in rainforest and humid open forest mostly in near-coastal districts in New South Wales and Queensland.

<i>Prostanthera ovalifolia</i>

Prostanthera ovalifolia, commonly known as the oval-leaf mintbush or purple mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with egg-shaped leaves and groups of mauve to deep blue-purple flowers arranged in groups at the ends of branchlets.

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

Myoporum petiolatum, commonly known as sticky boobialla, is a plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae, and is endemic to the south-east of continental Australia. For many years this species has been confused with the much less common species Myoporum viscosum from which it can be distinguished by its thinner, noticeably petiolate and non-odorous leaves.

<i>Dendrobium aemulum</i>

Dendrobium aemulum, commonly known as the ironbark feather orchid or white feather orchid, is an epiphytic orchid in the family Orchidaceae and grows on trees that retain their bark, especially ironbarks. It has reddish or purplish pseudobulbs, two to four leathery leaves and up to seven white, feathery flowers. It grows in open forest in Queensland and New South Wales.

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

Myoporum montanum, commonly known as waterbush or boobialla, is a shrub native to Australia, New Guinea and Timor. The species is extremely variable in size growth habit and leaf form, with three primary forms recognised. Its occurrence in many places is restricted to coastal regions, watercourses and other locales with more reliable water supplies. It was this association with water that gave rise to the name water bush.

<i>Prostanthera denticulata</i>

Prostanthera denticulata, commonly known as rough mint-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a straggling to almost prostrate, aromatic shrub with narrow egg-shaped leaves and purple to mauve flowers arranged in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets.

Myoporum mauritianum is a flowering plant in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a few volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean. It is a small, low-branched shrub with serrated leaves and small white flowers and usually grows on calcarenite within 20 metres (70 ft) of the sea.

<i>Myoporum oppositifolium</i>

Myoporum oppositifolium, commonly known as twin-leaf myoporum, is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is easily distinguished from others in the genus by the combination of glabrous leaves and branches, its opposite leaf arrangement and its serrated leaves. Its distribution is restricted to the extreme south-west of Western Australia.

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

Myoporum platycarpum, known by several common names including sugarwood, false sandalwood and ngural is a plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae. It is rounded with bright green foliage as a young shrub and roughly fissured, dark grey bark when mature. Sugarwood is endemic to the southern half of continental Australia.

Myoporum bontioides commonly known as ku jian lan, is a species of the flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae. It is a shrub growing in coastal areas of southern Japan and South China including beaches and estuaries where there are no large breaking waves.

<i>Pityrodia salvifolia</i>

Pityrodia salvifolia is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is an erect, spreading shrub with aromatic, wrinkled or corrugated leaves and clusters of small flowers with white petals. It is mostly found in wet forests in coastal north Queensland.

Thelymitra nuda

Thelymitra nuda, commonly known as the plain sun orchid is a species of orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has a single fleshy, channelled leaf and up to twelve dark blue to purplish, sometimes white or pinkish flowers with white tufts on top of the anther. It grows in a range of habitats and sometimes forms large colonies.

<i>Diuris alba</i>

Diuris alba, commonly called the white donkey orchid, is a species of orchid which is endemic to eastern Australia. It has up to three leaves, and a flowering stem with up to seven white flowers with purplish markings.

Thelymitra angustifolia, commonly known as the long-leaved sun orchid is a species of orchid that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has a single erect, thin, channelled leaf and up to ten purplish blue flowers with white tufts on top of the anther. The flowers are self-pollinating.

<i>Prostanthera scutellarioides</i>

Prostanthera scutellarioides is a species of flowering plant that is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect, or low-lying, faintly aromatic shrub with linear leaves and pale to deep mauve flowers arranged in leaf axils.

<i>Prostanthera violacea</i>

Prostanthera violacea, commonly known as violet mint-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales. It is a slender, strongly aromatic shrub with densely hairy branches, more or less round leaves with the edges rolled under and mauve to bluish flowers often with white tips.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Myoporum viscosum". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Chinnock, R.J. (Bob) (2007). Eremophila and allied genera : a monograph of the plant family Myoporaceae (1st ed.). Dural, NSW: Rosenberg. pp. 121–123. ISBN   9781877058165.
  3. 1 2 "Myoporum viscosum". Electronic flora of South Australia. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Myoporum viscosum". Lucid central. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  5. Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae. London. p. 516. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  6. Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings. Kardinya, Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 337. ISBN   9780958034180.
  7. Wrigley, John W.; Fagg, Murray (1983). Australian native plants : a manual for their propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping (2nd ed.). Sydney: Collins. p. 272. ISBN   0002165759.