Prostanthera | |
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Prostanthera althoferi | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Subfamily: | Prostantheroideae |
Genus: | Prostanthera Labill. [1] |
Species | |
See text | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Prostanthera, commonly known as mintbush or mint bush, [2] is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, and all are endemic to Australia. Plants are usually shrubs, rarely trees with leaves in opposite pairs. The flowers are arranged in panicles in the leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets. The sepals are joined at the base with two lobes. The petals are usually blue to purple or white, joined in a tube with two "lips", the lower lip with three lobes and the upper lip with two lobes or notched.
Plants in the genus Prostanthera are usually shrubs or subshrubs, rarely trees, with leaves arranged in opposite pairs. The flowers are arranged in panicles in leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets with bracts and bracteoles at the base. The sepals are joined at the base but with two lobes. The petals form a tube with two lips, the lower lip with three, usually spreading lobes and the upper lip with two lobes or a notch at the tip. The petal tube is bluish purple to white or more or less red. There are four stamens, the anthers often with a small appendage. The ovary has four lobes and the tip of the stigma has two branches. [2] [3] [4]
The genus Prostanthera was first formally described in 1806 by Jacques Labillardière in his book Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen and the first species he described was Prostanthera lasianthos . [5] [6] The word is derived from the Greek for an appendage. Within the flowers are small spur-like appendages on the anthers. [7]
Prostanthera species are used as food plants by the larvae of hepialid moths of the genus Aenetus including A. eximia and A. ligniveren.
Mint bushes are cultivated as ornamentals and for essential oils and spices. [8]
The following is a list of species accepted at the Australian Plant Census as at August 2020: [9]
Leucopogon is a genus of about 150-160 species of shrubs or small trees in the family Ericaceae, in the section of that family formerly treated as the separate family Epacridaceae. They are native to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the western Pacific Islands and Malaysia, with the greatest species diversity in the south-west of Western Australia. Plants in this genus have leaves with a few more or less parallel veins, and tube-shaped flowers usually with a white beard inside.
Pimelea, commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and 36 in New Zealand.
Persoonia, commonly known as geebungs or snottygobbles, is a genus of about one hundred species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus Persoonia are shrubs or small trees usually with smooth bark, simple leaves and usually yellow flowers arranged along a raceme, each flower with a leaf or scale leaf at the base. The fruit is a drupe.
Olearia, most commonly known as daisy-bush, is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Asteraceae, the largest of the flowering plant families in the world. Olearia are found in Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The genus includes herbaceous plants, shrubs and small trees. The latter are unusual among the Asteraceae and are called tree daisies in New Zealand. All bear the familiar daisy-like composite flowerheads in white, pink, mauve or purple.
Westringia is a genus of Australian shrubs. As with other members of the mint family their upper petal is divided into two lobes. There are four stamens - the upper two are fertile while the lower two are reduced to staminodes. The leaves are in whorls of 3 or 4.
Dillwynia is a genus of about 20 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus are shrubs with simple leaves and yellow or red and yellow flowers similar to others in the family.
Cassinia is a genus of about fifty-two species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae that are native to Australia and New Zealand. Plants in the genus Cassinia are shrubs, sometimes small trees with leaves arranged alternately, and heads of white, cream-coloured, yellow or pinkish flowers surrounded by several rows of bracts.
Swainsona is a genus of about 85 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus are herbs or subshrubs with imparipinnate leaves and usually purple flowers similar to others in the family.
Isotoma is a genus of annual and perennial herbs in the family Campanulaceae and are native to Australia and New Zealand.
Gompholobium, commonly known as glory peas or wedge-peas, is a genus of plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Most species have compound leaves composed of three leaflets and all have ten stamens which are free from each other and a distinctive arrangement of their sepals.
Cryptandra is a genus of flowering plants family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to Australia. Most plants in the genus Cryptandra are spiny, heath-like shrubs with small, clustered leaves and flowers crowded at the ends of branches, the flowers are usually small, surrounded by brown bracts, and with tube-shaped hypanthium, the petals hooded over the anthers.
Bossiaea is a genus of about 78 species of flowering plants in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia. Plants in this genus often have stems and branches modified as cladodes, simple, often much reduced leaves, flowers with the upper two sepal lobes larger than the lower three, usually orange to yellow petals with reddish markings, and the fruit a more or less flattened pod.
Daviesia, commonly known as bitter-peas, is a genus of about 130 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia. Plants in the genus Daviesia are shrubs or small trees with leaves modified as phyllodes or reduced to scales. The flowers are arranged singly or in groups, usually in leaf axils, the sepals joined at the base with five teeth, the petals usually yellowish with reddish markings and the fruit a pod.
Lepidosperma is a genus of flowering plant of the family Cyperaceae. Most of the species are endemic to Australia, with others native to southern China, southeast Asia, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Zealand.
Styphelia is a genus of shrubs in the family Ericaceae, native from Indo-China through the Pacific to Australia. Most have minute or small leaves with a sharp tip, single, tube-shaped flowers arranged in leaf axils and with the ends of the petals rolled back with hairs in the inside of the tube.