Wiry podolepis | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Asterales |
Family: | Asteraceae |
Genus: | Podolepis |
Species: | P. capillaris |
Binomial name | |
Podolepis capillaris (Steetz) Diels | |
Estimated distribution of Podolepis capillaris |
Podelepis capillaris, the wiry podolepis, is a hardy small herb endemic to inland and central Australia, it produces a thin stem and a white flower with purple strips underneath each petal.
Podelepis capillaris was first described in 1905 by European botanists Frederich Ludwig Emil Deils & Ernst Pritzel. [1] Its taxonomy to this genus is accepted due to its affinity with 18 other species of genus Podolepis that are also endemic to Australia. [2] Commonality in genus are specimens will have fine septate hairs and often minute glandular hairs and tubular florets. It is part of family Asteraceae that forms commonality with almost 20000 species worldwide, having commonality with daisies, thistles, sunflowers and many others. [3]
Podelepis capillaris, sometimes referred to as an invisible plant is a wiry many branched annual herb that can grow up to 45 cm high. It has thin stems that a widely smooth except for cobwebbed hairs in leaf axils. Leaves are few, they grow in a linear fashion. They are smooth and small and soon wither on plant, they connect directly to the stem (cauline) and are 0.5 – 4 cm long. Flowers are formed as a radiate head. [4] Florets are capitula and grow in ray florets of 9-12 petals and disc florets of 17–22. Podelepis capillaris can be differentiated from other species in the genus Podolepis by it having mostly white flowers, often with a purple line on the underside. [5] This species is a prolific flowerer and flowers throughout August to March. [6] In comparison to most other Podolepis it grows with minimal leaves due to an adjustment to its local environment.
Podelepis capillaris is a very hardy plant and suitable for dry and hot conditions. It grows most often in deep inland sands or shallow soils on hill lines, with tolerance for saline conditions. This means that it is well suited to interior of Australia extending its distribution through many states within Australia from North western Victoria, throughout central west New South Wales, South Australia, WA and Northern Territory.
The widespread distribution of the species could be linked to its ability for the species to hybridize easily with its close relations and is likely to have caused easy differentiation between species. [7] Distribution could only be expected to increase as time goes by due to the effects of climate change. This species will survive quite happily alongside other species owing to its ability to survive in sandy conditions and often disturbed areas, by human or natural processes. It would be considered of least concern in terms of threat to the species.
Podelepis capillaris relies primarily on pollinating insects, however it can self pollinate at points during its cycle. Like most members of family Asteraceae, Podelepis capillaris employs a system of pollination called secondary pollination or plunger pollination . In this system the flowers are such that the stamens form a tube around immature style, with their pollen surfaces facing inwards. As the style elongates within the tube it pushes pollen out the closed stigma for pollinators to accept. The closed stigma means that it is unreceptive to its pollen at this stage and can cross to other individuals. When its stigma becomes receptive it awaits outcross pollen from other individuals, however if it is not fertilized during this period it shifts to self pollination. This achieved by the fine hairs that hold the released pollen curling down towards that stamen at the closing stages of the plants cycle. [8] This ensures that seed production is still achieved, these produced seeds are light and spread easily, by distances by the wind. [9]
Asteraceae is a large family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown. The Asteraceae were first described in the year 1740 and given the original name Compositae. The family is commonly known as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family.
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of modified leaves called sepals, that collectively form the calyx and lie just beneath the corolla. The calyx and the corolla together make up the perianth, the non-reproductive portion of a flower. When the petals and sepals of a flower are difficult to distinguish, they are collectively called tepals. Examples of plants in which the term tepal is appropriate include genera such as Aloe and Tulipa. Conversely, genera such as Rosa and Phaseolus have well-distinguished sepals and petals. When the undifferentiated tepals resemble petals, they are referred to as "petaloid", as in petaloid monocots, orders of monocots with brightly coloured tepals. Since they include Liliales, an alternative name is lilioid monocots.
Cirsium vulgare, the spear thistle, bull thistle, or common thistle, is a species of the Asteraceae genus Cirsium, native throughout most of Europe, Western Asia, and northwestern Africa. It is also naturalised in North America, Africa, and Australia and is an invasive weed in several regions. It is the national flower of Scotland.
Plant reproductive morphology is the study of the physical form and structure of those parts of plants directly or indirectly concerned with sexual reproduction.
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae) native to central and eastern North America. Commonly known as New England aster, hairy Michaelmas-daisy, or Michaelmas daisy, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant usually between 30 and 120 centimeters tall and 60 to 90 cm wide.
Stylidium is a genus of dicotyledonous plants that belong to the family Stylidiaceae. The genus name Stylidium is derived from the Greek στύλος or stylos, which refers to the distinctive reproductive structure that its flowers possess. Pollination is achieved through the use of the sensitive "trigger", which comprises the male and female reproductive organs fused into a floral column that snaps forward quickly in response to touch, harmlessly covering the insect in pollen. Most of the approximately 300 species are only found in Australia, making it the fifth largest genus in that country. Triggerplants are considered to be protocarnivorous or carnivorous because the glandular trichomes that cover the scape and flower can trap, kill, and digest small insects with protease enzymes produced by the plant. Recent research has raised questions as to the status of protocarnivory within Stylidium.
A flower, also known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants. Flowers consist of a combination of vegetative organs – sepals that enclose and protect the developing flower. These petals attract pollinators, and reproductive organs that produce gametophytes, which in flowering plants produce gametes. The male gametophytes, which produce sperm, are enclosed within pollen grains produced in the anthers. The female gametophytes are contained within the ovules produced in the ovary.
Symphyotrichum is a genus of over 100 species and naturally occurring hybrids of herbaceous annual and perennial plants in the composite family, Asteraceae, most which were formerly treated within the genus Aster. The majority are endemic to North America, but several also occur in the West Indies, Central and South America, as well as one species in eastern Eurasia. Several species have been introduced to Europe as garden specimens, most notably New England aster and New York aster.
Plant reproduction is the production of new offspring in plants, which can be accomplished by sexual or asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from either parent. Asexual reproduction produces new individuals without the fusion of gametes, resulting in clonal plants that are genetically identical to the parent plant and each other, unless mutations occur.
Senecio squalidus, known as Oxford ragwort, is a flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. It is a yellow-flowered herbaceous plant, native to mountainous, rocky or volcanic areas, that has managed to find other homes on man-made and natural piles of rocks, war-ruined neighborhoods and dry-stone walls. These habitats resemble its well drained natural rocky homeland. The plants have spread via the wind, rail and the activities of botanists. The travels of this short-lived perennial, biennial, or winter annual make it a good subject for studies of the evolution and ecology of flowering plants.
This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnifying lens. This page provides help in understanding the numerous other pages describing plants by their various taxa. The accompanying page—Plant morphology—provides an overview of the science of the external form of plants. There is also an alphabetical list: Glossary of botanical terms. In contrast, this page deals with botanical terms in a systematic manner, with some illustrations, and organized by plant anatomy and function in plant physiology.
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum is a species of flowering plant in the aster family (Asteraceae). Commonly known as calico aster, starved aster, and white woodland aster, it is native to eastern and central North America. It is a perennial and herbaceous plant that may reach heights up to 120 centimeters and widths up to 30 centimeters.
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary of leaf morphology. For other related terms, see Glossary of phytopathology, Glossary of lichen terms, and List of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names.
Anisomeles malabarica, more commonly known as the Malabar catmint, is a species of herbaceous shrub in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of India, and Sri Lanka, but can also be found in Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bismarck Archipelago, Mauritius, Andaman Islands and Réunion.
Teucrium racemosum, also commonly referred to as either the grey germander or forest germander, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is endemic to Australia and is found in all mainland states, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory. It grows in floodplains, dry lake beds and open woodlands. A perennial herb, it has four-sided, densely hairy stems, narrow egg-shaped leaves, and white flowers usually arranged singly in leaf axils. It grows to be between 15 and 40 cm tall.
Symphyotrichum dumosum is a species of flowering plant of the family Asteraceae commonly known as rice button aster and bushy aster. It is native to much of eastern and central North America, as well as Haiti and Dominican Republic. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach a height of 1 meter.
Balduina uniflora, commonly called oneflower honeycombhead, savannah honeycombhead or oneflower balduina, is a North American species of plants in the sunflower family. It is native to the southeastern United States. It is the type species of the genus Balduina.
Protea pruinosa, also known as frosted sugarbush or burnished protea, is a flowering shrub which belongs to the genus Protea within the botanical family Proteaceae. The plant is endemic to the southwestern Cape Region of South Africa.
Symphyotrichum racemosum is a species of flowering plant native to parts of the United States and introduced in Canada. It is known as smooth white oldfield aster and small white aster. It is a perennial, herbaceous plant in the family Asteraceae. It is a late-summer and fall blooming flower.
Taraxacum ceratophorum, also known as the horned dandelion, is a species of flowering plant within the genus Taraxacum and family Asteraceae. This alpine species has a preference for mountainous habitat, where it can be found growing at elevations up to 3000 meters above sea level. It is native to a large portion of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting various countries within Asia, Europe and North America.