Pityrodia pungens

Last updated

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

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.

Contents

Description

Pityrodia pungens is a straggling shrub which grows to a height of 40–75 cm (20–30 in) and has branches sometimes covered with star-like hairs. The leaves are linear to narrow lance-shaped, usually 10–40 mm (0.39–1.6 in) long, 2–4 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide with a sharp point on the end. The flowers are arranged singly in upper leaf axils and are shorter than the leaves. There are leaf-like bracts and lance-shaped bracteoles 4–9 mm (0.16–0.35 in) long at the base of the flowers. The sepals are joined for less than half their length to form a bell-shaped tube with five lance-shaped, hairy lobes 4–6.5 mm (0.16–0.26 in) long. The five petals are off-white, 10–13 mm (0.4–0.5 in) long and joined to form a bell-like tube with five lobes on the end. The two upper lobes have dark purple streaks and are 2–3 mm (0.079–0.12 in) long and smaller than the lower lobes. The upper lobes are shorter than or about equal to the length of the sepals. The lower middle lobe is larger than the others. The petals are glabrous except for soft hairs on the outside of the petal lobes and a dense hairy ring below the stamens. The four stamens extend slightly beyond the end of the tube, the lower pair slightly longer than the other one. Flowering occurs mainly from January to June and is followed by an oval-shaped, hairy fruit about 3 mm (0.12 in) long and 2 mm (0.08 in) wide. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Pityrodia pungens was first formally described in 1979 by Ahmad Abid Munir from a specimen collected in the Nitmiluk National Park. The description was published in Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. [2] [4] The specific epithet (pungens) is a Latin word meaning "sharp", "acrid", "biting" or "piercing". [5]

Distribution

This pityrodia occurs in the northern part of the Northern Territory. [2] [3]

Conservation

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

Related Research Articles

<i>Pityrodia</i>

Pityrodia is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae and is endemic to Australia, most species occurring in Western Australia, a few in the Northern Territory and one in Queensland. Plants in this genus are shrubs with five petals joined to form a tube-shaped flower with four stamens of unequal lengths.

Dasymalla chorisepala is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is a small shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with hairs. The leaves are stalkless, egg-shaped and covered with yellowish hairs while the flowers are small, tube-shaped and white.

Dasymalla glutinosa is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a spreading, sticky shrub with glabrous branches, egg-shaped, stalkless leaves and small, white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped flowers.

<i>Pityrodia loricata</i> Species of plant

Pityrodia loricata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a dense, greyish, multi-stemmed shrub with whorled leaves, prominent sepals and pale, pinkish-white flowers. It is common in Western Australia and the Northern Territory and there is a single record from South Australia.

<i>Muniria quadrangulata</i>

Muniria quadrangulata 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 covered with a thick layer of woolly hairs and pale yellow flowers in groups of up to nine, surrounded by woolly hairs.

<i>Pityrodia byrnesii</i>

Pityrodia byrnesii is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. It is a shrub with hairy, glandular stems, stalkless, flat leaves and fragrant, off-white, bell-like flowers with purple stripes inside the tube.

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.

<i>Pityrodia canaliculata</i>

Pityrodia canaliculata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to a small area in Western Australia. It is a many-branched shrub with all its parts, except the petals covered with small, circular scales. The tube-shaped flowers are white with reddish spots inside.

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>

Hemiphora lanata 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 and leaves densely covered with white, woolly hairs and with deep pink or dark red, curved, tube-shaped flowers with spreading petal lobes on the end. It is similar to Hemiphora exserta except for its cottony leaf-covering and its longer stamens.

<i>Pityrodia gilruthiana</i>

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.

<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.

Quoya paniculata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with a layer of woolly hairs. The flowers are usually arranged in small groups surrounded by woolly hairs and are bell-shaped and deep purple or deep lilac. It is similar to Dasymalla axillaris and D. terminalis but is distinguished from them by its wedge-shaped leaf ends and more northerly distribution.

<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.

References

  1. "Pityrodia pungens". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
  2. 1 2 3 Munir, Ahmad Abid (1979). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Pityrodia (Chloanthaceae)". Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. 2 (1): 73–75.
  3. 1 2 3 "Pityrodia puberula". Northern Territory Government: Flora NT. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  4. "Pityrodia pungens". APNI. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  5. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 620.