Persoonia silvatica

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Forest geebung
Persoonia silvatica.jpg
Persoonia silvatica growing near Tantawangalo
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Persoonia
Species:
P. silvatica
Binomial name
Persoonia silvatica

Persoonia silvatica, commonly known as the forest geebung, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub or tree with more or less lance-shaped leaves and small groups of yellow flowers with white centres. It grows mainly in forest near the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

Contents

Description

Persoonia silvatica is a shrub or small tree which grows to a height of 1.5–9 m (5–30 ft) with its young branches having a sparse covering of hair. The leaves are arranged alternately and are 30–120 mm (1–5 in) long and 6–25 mm (0.2–1 in) wide. They are narrow elliptic to lance-shaped, or narrow spatula-shaped to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. They are flat and smooth, the upper surface a darker colour than the lower one, and the leaves are hairy when young but become glabrous as they age. The flowers are arranged in groups called racemes in leaf axils, or on the ends of branches, and some of the groups continue to grow into leafy shoots. Each flower is on a pedicel 1–4 mm (0.04–0.2 in) long which is sometimes hairy. The flower is composed of four yellow tepals 12–14 mm (0.5–0.6 in) long, which are fused at the base but with the tips rolled back. There is a spine up to 1.5 mm (0.06 in) long on the end of each tepal. The central style is surrounded by four white anthers which are also joined at the base with the tips rolled back, so that they resemble a cross when viewed end-on. The ovary at the base of the style is glabrous. Flowering occurs in summer and is followed by fruit which are green, oval-shaped drupes about 15 mm (0.6 in) long and 12 mm (0.5 in) wide. [1] [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Persoonia silvatica was first formally described in 1957 by botanist Lawrie Johnson based on plant material collected at Brown Mountain in New South Wales by Ernst Betche in 1893. [4] [5] The specific epithet (silvatica) is a Latin word meaning "of woods". [6]

Distribution and habitat

Persoonia silvatica occurs in montane forest along the Great Dividing Range in East Gippsland and south-eastern New South Wales including localities Bendoc, the Errinundra Plateau, Mount Kaye and Howe Hill in Victoria and Monga, Tinderry Peak and Mount Currockbilly in New South Wales. Plants that are believed to be hybrids of this species with Persoonia confertiflora have been noted at Genoa in Victoria. [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Persoonia cornifolia</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia cornifolia is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves and hairy yellow flowers, and grows in northern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland.

<i>Persoonia rigida</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia rigida, commonly known as the rigid-, hairy- or stiff geebung, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is an erect to low-lying shrub with hairy young branchlets, lance-shaped to spatula-shaped leaves that are hairy when young, and yellow flowers borne in groups of up to twenty on a rachis up to 90 mm (3.5 in) long that continues to grow after flowering.

<i>Persoonia subvelutina</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia subvelutina, commonly known as velvety geebung, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a spreading to small tree with branchlets that are hairy when young, elliptic, lance-shaped, egg-shaped or spatula-shaped leaves and yellow flowers arranged singly in leaf axils on a pedicel 1–4 mm (0.039–0.157 in) long.

<i>Persoonia confertiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia confertiflora, commonly known as cluster-flower geebung, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is an erect to low-lying shrub with hairy young branches, egg-shaped to narrow elliptic leaves, and hairy yellow flowers borne on leaf axils or on the ends of short branches.

<i>Persoonia glaucescens</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia glaucescens, commonly known as the Mittagong geebung, is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with smooth bark, hairy young branchlets, lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow flowers. It is the only persoonia in eastern Australia with strongly glaucous leaves.

Persoonia katerae is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a small area on the coast of New South Wales. It is an erect shrub to small tree with smooth bark on the branches, narrow elliptic to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow flowers in groups of six to twenty-two on a rachis 30–160 mm (1.2–6.3 in) long.

<i>Persoonia virgata</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia virgata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to coastal areas of eastern Australia. It is usually an erect shrub with smooth bark, hairy young branchlets, linear to narrow spatula-shaped leaves, and yellow flowers borne in groups of up to seventy-five on a rachis up to 230 mm (9.1 in) long that continues to grow after flowering.

<i>Persoonia mollis</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia mollis, commonly known as soft geebung, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect to prostrate shrub with linear to oblong or spatula-shaped leaves, yellow flowers in groups of up to thirty on a rachis up to 150 mm (5.9 in) long and relatively small fruit.

<i>Persoonia marginata</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia marginata, commonly known as the Clandulla geebung, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is low, spreading shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves and small groups of cylindrical yellow flowers.

<i>Persoonia elliptica</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia elliptica, commonly known as snottygobble or spreading snottygobble, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub or small tree with egg-shaped or lance-shaped leaves and groups of cylindrical yellow flowers. It usually grows in woodland or forest dominated by jarrah or marri within 50 km (30 mi) of the coast.

<i>Persoonia asperula</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia asperula, commonly known as mountain geebung, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is an erect or prostrate shrub with smooth bark, mostly elliptic to oblong leaves and yellow flowers borne singly or in groups of up to nine. It mostly occurs in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. A small population in Victoria may be a different species.

<i>Persoonia isophylla</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia isophylla is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect or spreading shrub with soft, pine-like leaves and groups of cylindrical yellow flowers. It is similar to P. pinifolia but the flowers of that species have small leaves at their base, where the flowers of P. isophylla have full-sized leaves at their base. The two species sometimes grow together but hybrids between them are rare.

<i>Persoonia oblongata</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia oblongata is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is an erect to spreading shrub with narrow elliptic to broad egg-shaped leaves and yellow flowers on long, curved pedicels and is found from the lower Blue Mountains, west to Rylstone.

<i>Persoonia conjuncta</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia conjuncta is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect shrub or small tree with narrow elliptic to lance-shaped leaves, yellow, tube-shaped flowers in groups of up to sixteen and green fruit.

<i>Persoonia adenantha</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia adenantha is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an upright shrub or small tree with smooth, elliptic to lance-shaped leaves and groups of hairy yellow flowers. It has sometimes been confused with P. cornifolia and P. stradbrokensis.

<i>Persoonia brevifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia brevifolia is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area near the border between south-eastern New South Wales and Victoria. It is an erect shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves and cylindrical yellow flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

<i>Persoonia acuminata</i> Species of shrub

Persoonia acuminata is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a spreading or prostrate shrub with relatively small leaves and cylindrical yellow flowers arranged singly or in groups of up to sixteen in leaf axils or on the ends of the branches. It grows in moist forest on the higher parts of the tablelands.

<i>Persoonia recedens</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia recedens is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a spreading to low-lying shrub with hairy young branchlets, narrow oblong to narrow elliptic leaves, and yellow flowers borne in groups of up to twelve on a rachis up to 75 mm (3.0 in) that continues to grow after flowering.

Persoonia tropica is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to north Queensland. It is an erect shrub to small tree shrub with branchlets that are hairy when young, narrow elliptic to lance-shaped leaves and yellow flowers in groups of three to ten on a rachis 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) long that continues to grow after flowering.

<i>Persoonia comata</i> Species of flowering plant

Persoonia comata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, sometimes spreading to low-lying shrub with mostly smooth bark, spatula-shaped to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and yellow flowers usually in groups of ten to fifty along a rachis up to 250 mm (9.8 in) long.

References

  1. "Persoonia silvatica L.A.S.Johnson". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
  2. 1 2 Jeanes, Jeff. "Persoonia silvatica". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  3. Weston, Peter H. "Persoonia silvatica". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  4. "Persoonia silvatica". APNI. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  5. Johnson, Lawrence A.S. (1957). "Two new species of Persoonia". The Victorian Naturalist. 73 (10): 160–161. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  6. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 345.