Pityrodia ternifolia

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Pityrodia ternifolia
Pityrodia ternifolia-as Denisonia ternifolia.jpg
Illustration by Ludwig Becker in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Pityrodia
Species:
P. ternifolia
Binomial name
Pityrodia ternifolia
Pityrodia ternifolia DistMap19.png
Occurrence data from the ALA
Synonyms [2]
  • Chloanthes denisoniiF.Muell. nom. illeg.
  • Dennisonia ternifoliaF.Muell.

Pityrodia ternifolia is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. It is an erect shrub with densely hairy stems, sticky and prickly, egg-shaped leaves, and mauve or pinkish-red, tube-shaped flowers.

Contents

Description

Pityrodia ternifolia is an erect shrub that has its stems and branches densely covered with woolly, glandular hairs. Its leaves are usually arranged in whorls of three, sticky and prickly, egg-shaped, mostly 15–50 mm (0.59–1.97 in) long, 0.8–2 mm (0.031–0.079 in) wide and sessile. The edges of the leaves are toothed and sometimes sharply pointed, and there are scattered glandular hairs on both surfaces. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a thin pedicel, usually shorter than the leaves and there are leaf-like bracts and linear or narrowly elliptic bracteoles at the base of the flowers. The sepals are 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long and joined at the base forming a bell-shaped tube with five lance-shaped lobes 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) long. The five petals are mauve or pinkish-red, 11–14 mm (0.43–0.55 in) long and joined at the base to form a more or less cylindrical tube with two "lips". The lower lip has 3 lobes, the middle lobe larger than the other two and 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long, the upper lip with 2 oblong or narrowly elliptic lobes 3.0–4.5 mm (0.12–0.18 in) long, with deep, purplish streaks. Flowering occurs from March to August and the fruit is oval, glabrous and 3.0–4.5 mm (0.12–0.18 in) long. [3] [4]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1859 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Dennisonia ternifolia in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany . [5] In 1979, Ahmad Abid Munir moved it to the genus Pityrodia as Pityrodia ternifolia in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens . The specific epithet (ternifolia) means "three-leaved", referring to the whorled leaves. [6] `

Distribution and habitat

This pityrodia grows in sandy soils on sandstone ridges and rocks in the Northern Kimberley, Victoria Bonaparte, Arnhem Coast, Arnhem Plateau, Darwin Coastal, Gulf Coastal, Gulf Fall and Uplands, Ord Victoria Plain and Pine Creek bioregions of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. [4] [1]

Conservation status

Pityrodia ternifolia is listed as of "least concern" under the Northern Territory Government Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act and as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. [4]

Together with P. jamesii and P. pungens , P. ternifolia is a primary food source for the uncommon and very brightly coloured Leichhardt's grasshopper (Petasida ephippigera). [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Pityrodia</i> Genus of flowering plants

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.

<i>Petasida</i> Genus of grasshoppers

Petasida ephippigera, the Leichhardt's grasshopper, is a relatively large, brightly coloured pyrgomorph species of grasshopper in the monotypic genus Petasida, native to the Top End region of tropical northern Australia.

<i>Pityrodia augustensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia augustensis, commonly known as Mount Augustus foxglove, is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to a small area in Western Australia. It is a small, bushy shrub with its branches, leaves and some of its flower parts densely covered with woolly hairs. It is similar to the lovely foxglove and the sandplain foxglove but has very different leaves from those species.

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.

<i>Dasymalla teckiana</i> Species of flowering plant

Dasymalla teckiana is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small, openly branched, sticky shrub with mauve and white, bugle-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> Species of shrub

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> Species of flowering plant

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.

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> Species of flowering plant

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>Pityrodia gilruthiana</i> Species of flowering plant

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 jamesii</i> Species of flowering plant

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> Species of flowering plant

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 puberula</i> Species of flowering plant

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> Species of flowering plant

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.

<i>Pityrodia scabra</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia scabra is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to inland Western Australia. It is a sticky shrub with linear leaves arranged in whorls, and groups of about 7 to 9 white flowers.

<i>Pityrodia serrata</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia serrata is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the northern part of the Northern Territory. It is an erect shrub with sharply-pointed, egg-shaped leaves with serrated edges, and off-white, bell-shaped flowers streaked with purple.

<i>Pityrodia spenceri</i> Species of flowering plant

Pityrodia spenceri is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the northern part of the Northern Territory. It is an erect shrub with hairy, heart-shaped or egg-shaped leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers.

References

  1. 1 2 NTFlora: Pityrodia ternifolia. Northern Territory flora online, Northern Territory Government. Accessed 16 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 "Pityrodia ternifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  3. Munir, Ahmad Abid (1979). "A taxonomic revision of the genus Pityrodia (Chloanthaceae)". Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden. 2 (1): 54–57130.
  4. 1 2 3 "Pityrodia ternifolia". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  5. "Pityrodia ternifolia". APNI. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  6. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 322. ISBN   9780958034180.
  7. Lowe, L. (1995). "Preliminary Investigations of the Biology and Management of Leichhardt's Grasshopper, Petasida ephippigera White". Journal of Orthoptera Research. 4: 219–221.