Persoonia is a genus of about one hundred species of shrubs and small trees in the subfamily Persoonioideae in the large and diverse plant family Proteaceae. In the eastern states of Australia, they are commonly known as geebungs, while in Western Australia and South Australia they go by the common name snottygobbles. While their flowers are small and not prominent, persoonias are best known in the Australian bush for the striking bright green foliage of many species.
Persoonia micranthera, commonly known as the small-flowered snottygobble, is an endangered prostrate shrub with yellow flowers and thin bark. It grows only on two peaks, Bluff Knoll and Isongerup Peak, in the eastern section of the Stirling Range, Western Australia. A slow-growing plant, it takes more than six years to produce flowers and seed.
Persoonia longifolia, the upright snottygobble, also known as the long-leaf persoonia or just snottygobble, is a species of tall shrub or small tree in the plant genus Persoonia, reaching 1 to 5 metres (3–17 ft) in height. It is found in the Jarrah forests of southwest Western Australia. This species is characterised by its long narrow dark green leaves, dark yellow to orange flowers and distinctive flaky dark red bark.
Hakea teretifolia, commonly known as the dagger hakea, is a species of woody shrub of the family Proteaceae common on heathlands in coastal eastern Australia from northern New South Wales through to Victoria and Tasmania. A very prickly shrub, it is rarely cultivated but easy to grow.
Persoonia levis, commonly known as the broad-leaved geebung, is a shrub native to New South Wales and Victoria in eastern Australia. It reaches 5 m (16 ft) in height and has dark grey papery bark and bright green asymmetrical sickle-shaped leaves up to 14 cm (5.5 in) long and 8 cm (3.2 in) wide. The small yellow flowers appear in summer and autumn, followed by small green fleshy fruit, which are classified as drupes. Within the genus Persoonia, it is a member of the Lanceolata group of 58 closely related species. P. levis interbreeds with several other species where they grow together.
Persoonia lanceolata, commonly known as lance-leaf geebung, is a shrub native to New South Wales in eastern Australia. It reaches 3 m (9.8 ft) in height and has smooth grey bark and bright green foliage. Its small yellow flowers grow on racemes and appear in the austral summer and autumn, followed by green fleshy fruits which ripen the following spring. Within the genus Persoonia, P. lanceolata belongs to the lanceolata group of 58 closely related species. It interbreeds with several other species found in its range.
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.
Persoonia juniperina, commonly known as the prickly geebung, is a shrub native to south-eastern Australia. It was first collected in Tasmania, and described by French naturalist Jacques Labillardière in 1805. Within the genus Persoonia, P. juniperina is classified in the lanceolata group, a group of 54 closely related species with similar flowers but very different foliage. These species will often interbreed with each other where two members of the group occur. The species itself is variable across its range and separate subspecies have been recognised in the past, although the latest consensus is that the change is uniform enough not to warrant status for subspecies. It grows as a small spreading shrub 0.3 to 2 m high, and has smooth bark, hairy new branches and leaves. The narrow leaves measure 0.8 to 3.5 cm long, and 1.5 mm wide and are linear in shape. The yellow flowers appear in summer and autumn. As with all persoonias, the flowers are followed by the appearance of small fleshy fruit. These may have been eaten by aborigines. A field study manipulating pollination showed P. juniperina was partly self-compatible but cross-pollination led to greater fruit production.
Persoonia hirsuta, commonly known as the hairy persoonia or hairy geebung, is a shrub native to New South Wales in eastern Australia.
Persoonia procumbens is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to part of the New England Tableland. It is a prostrate shrub with rather fleshy, relatively large leaves and small groups of cylindrical yellow flowers. It is similar to P. daphnoides but has darker hairs on the young branches and smaller, less hairy flowers.
Persoonia chamaepeuce, commonly known as the dwarf geebung or heathy geebung, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a prostrate shrub with crowded, linear leaves and yellow flowers in the leaf axils.
Persoonia falcata, commonly known as the wild pear, is a shrub native to northern Australia.
Persoonia coriacea, commonly known as the leathery-leaf persoonia, is a shrub native to the wheatbelt in Western Australia. First collected by one Max Koch on 30 November 1923, it was described by James W.C. Audas and P.F. Morris in 1928. Within the genus Persoonia, P. coriacea is classified in the lanceolata group, a group of 54 closely related species with similar flowers but very different foliage. These species will often interbreed with each other where two members of the group occur; in the case of this species, it hybridizes with P. helix.
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.
Persoonia fastigiata is a species of shrub in the family Proteaceae that is native to eastern Australia.
Persoonia spathulata is a shrub native to the south coast of Western Australia, to the north and east of Esperance.
Persoonia microphylla is a shrub native to eastern Australia.
Persoonia terminalis, also known as the Torrington geebung, is a rare shrub belonging to the family Proteaceae, and native to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland in eastern Australia. Reported as a subspecies of Persoonia nutans in 1981, it was described as a species by Lawrie Johnson and his colleague Peter Weston in 1991.
Persoonia saccata, commonly known as snottygobble, and cadgeegurrup in indigenous language, is a plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is usually an erect shrub and has linear leaves and groups of up to fifty or more irregularly shaped, yellow flowers which are hairy on the outside. It usually grows in woodland dominated by jarrah, marri or large Banksia species.
