Pityrodia gilruthiana

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Pityrodia gilruthiana
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Pityrodia
Species:
P. gilruthiana
Binomial name
Pityrodia gilruthiana
Map.Pityrodia gilruthiana.jpg
Occurrence data from the ALA

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.

Contents

Description

Pityrodia gilruthiana is a spreading shrub which grows to a height of about 1.5 m (5 ft) and which has branches sticky due to the presence of branched, glandular hairs. The leaves are linear to narrow lance-shaped, glabrous but sticky, 8–25 cm (3–10 in) long, 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide, darker green on the upper surface and have a prominent mid-vein on the lower surface. [2]

The flowers are fragrant and stalkless, arranged singly in upper leaf axils with a leaf-like bract and leafy, narrow linear to lance-shaped sticky bracteoles 3–6 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long at their base. The sepals are 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and joined for less than half their length to form a bell-shaped tube with five lance-shaped lobes on the end. The lobes are lance-shaped, 4.5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long, hairy and sticky except that the inside of the tubular part is glabrous. The five petals are 10–13 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long and joined to form an almost cylindrical tube 6–8 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long with five lobes on the end. The tube is off-white in colour with deep purple streaks on the upper lip. The lobes form two "lips" - the upper one with two lobes and the lower one longer with three lobes. The outer, top part of the tube has soft hairs but the rest is mostly glabrous apart from a dense hairy ring below the stamens. The lobes are more or less egg-shaped, the upper ones 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long and the lower ones are slightly longer and more spreading. The four stamens extend slightly beyond the end of the tube, the lower pair slightly longer than the other one. Flowering occurs in from February to August and is followed by an oval-shaped, hairy, fruit 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Pityrodia gilruthiana was first formally described in 1979 by Ahmad Abid Munir from a specimen collected near the Mount Gilruth in the Northern Territory. The description was published in Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. [1] [2]

Distribution

This pityrodia occurs in Arnhem Land near Mount Gilruth in the Kakadu National Park including the Arnhem Plateau and Pine Creek biogeographic regions. [2] [3]

Conservation

Pityrodia gilruthiana is classified as "least concern" under the Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2000. [3]

Related Research Articles

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<i>Muniria quadrangulata</i>

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<i>Hemiphora bartlingii</i>

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<i>Pityrodia byrnesii</i>

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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>

Quoya dilatata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with a layer of white, woolly hairs. The leaves are wrinkled or crinkly and the tube-shaped flowers are orange-red and hairy on the outside.

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.

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>

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>Hemiphora lanata</i>

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<i>Hemiphora uncinata</i>

Hemiphora uncinata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spreading shrub with its branches densely covered with white, woolly hairs. Its leaves are rough and wrinkled and the flowers are tube-shaped with deep pink petals with wavy edges.

<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.

<i>Pityrodia jamesii</i>

Pityrodia jamesii is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, Australia. It is a spreading shrub with hairy, yellowish brown stems, sticky, hairy, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and white, bell-like flowers.

<i>Pityrodia lanuginosa</i>

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

<i>Pityrodia obliqua</i>

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>

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>

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.

References

  1. 1 2 "Pityrodia gilruthiana". APNI. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Munir, Ahmad Abid (1979). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Pityrodia (Chloanthaceae)". Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. 2 (1): 75–78.
  3. 1 2 3 "Pityrodia gilruthiana". Northern Territory Government: Flora NT. Retrieved 19 January 2017.