| Schenkia australis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Gentianales |
| Family: | Gentianaceae |
| Genus: | Schenkia |
| Species: | S. australis |
| Binomial name | |
| Schenkia australis | |
Schenkia australis is a species of annual herb in the Gentianaceae family. It is endemic to Australia.
Schenkia australis grows as an annual, or rarely biannual, herb, from 2 to 30 centimetres high. Flowers are pink, red or yellow. [1]
This species was first published by Robert Brown in his 1810 Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae , under the name Erythraea australis. In 1917 the name it was transferred into Centaurium as C. australe by George Claridge Druce, on the grounds that Erythraea was an illegitimate later synonym of Centaurium. In 1928 Karel Domin resurrected Erythraea, transferring this species back into it, but at the same time demoting it to a variety of Erythraea spicata (now Schenkia spicata ). Eventually it was restored to Centaurium for a second time. [2]
In 1996, it was decided that Centaurium australis could not be differentiated from Centaurium spicatum (now Schenkia spicata), and the two were merged under the latter name. This was overturned, however, in 2004, based on strong evidence that Australia specimens of C. spicatum are not the same taxon as European specimens; specifically, all Australian specimens studied were tetraploid, whereas all European specimens studied with diploid. The same study also split Centaurium into four genera, with C. spicatum moving into Schenkia as S. spicata . Thus the Australian specimens were given the name Schenkia australis. [3]
Australian herbaria have been slow to take up these nomenclatural changes. As of 2008, the Western Australian Herbarium still attributes their specimens to Centaurium spicatum, [1] and the National Herbarium of New South Wales uses Schenkia spicata. [4] However the most recent update to the Census of Australian Vascular Plants uses Schenkia australis, [2] as does the Australian Plant Census. [5]
Since Australian specimens were previously ascribed to Centaurium spicatum, they were referred to by that species' common name, Spike Centaury. [1] [4] It remains to be seen whether this common name will continue to be applied in Australia now that the Australian specimens have been segregated into their own species.
Endemic to Australia, it is widespread on the mainland, occurring in all mainland states. [4] It prefers damp sandy soils. [3]
Gentianaceae is a family of flowering plants of 103 genera and about 1600 species.
Centaurium (centaury) is a genus of 20 species in the gentian family (Gentianaceae), tribe Chironieae, subtribe Chironiinae. The genus was named after the centaur Chiron, famed in Greek mythology for his skill in medicinal herbs. It is distributed across Europe and into Asia.
Centaury is a common name for several plants and may refer to:
August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach was a German botanist and phytogeographer. He was born in Hannover on 17 April 1814 and died in Göttingen on 9 May 1879.
Diploglottis is a genus of 10 species of trees known to science, constituting part of the plant family Sapindaceae. They grow naturally in rainforests and margins of adjoining humid forests in eastern Australia and New Guinea. Some species are known as native tamarind or small-leaved tamarind; they have no direct relationship with the true tamarind.
Zeltnera beyrichii, commonly known as mountain pink, quinine weed or rock centaury, is an annual plant in the New World that blooms from late spring to early fall. Used as a medicinal plant by pioneers, the flowers were dried and used to reduce fevers.
Schenkia sebaeoides, known as ʻĀwiwi in Hawaiian and lavaslope centaury in English, is a rare species of flowering plant. It is endemic to low shrublands in the state of Hawaiʻi in the United States. It is present on the islands of Kauai, Oahu, Lanai, Molokai, and Maui. At the time it was added to the endangered species list of the United States in 1991 it was known from seven populations for a total of fewer than 1000 individuals. It is threatened by habitat loss.
Zeltnera venusta is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common names California centaury, charming centaury and canchalagua. This centaury is native to much of California, southern Oregon, and northwest Baja California.
Suaeda australis, the austral seablite, is a species of plant in the family Amaranthaceae, native to Australia. It grows to 10 to 90 cm in height, with a spreading habit and branching occurring from the base. The leaves are up to 40 mm in length and are succulent, linear and flattened. They are light green to purplish-red in colour.
Zeltnera muehlenbergii is a species of annual herb commonly known as Monterey centaury and Muhlenberg's centaury. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California and Nevada, where it commonly grows in forests and other moist places. This is an annual herb growing thin, erect, branching stems to heights anywhere between 10 centimeters and one meter. Oval-shaped leaves are arranged oppositely on the stem and are up to 2 or 3 centimeters long. The branching inflorescence bears many flowers, each with small bracts at its base. The flower has five oval-shaped petallike lobes each a few millimeters long.
Philotheca spicata, commonly known as pepper and salt, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with linear to narrow elliptical leaves and pink, mauve or blue flowers arranged in a raceme on the ends of branchlets.
Calycadenia spicata is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name spiked western rosinweed. It is endemic to central California, where is a common grassland plant in the Central Valley and adjacent Sierra Nevada foothills from Butte County to Kern County.
Schenkia spicata is a species of annual herb in the family Gentianaceae. It has a very wide old world distribution, ranging from north Africa, through Europe and into Asia.
S. australis may refer to:
Schenkia is a genus of flowering plants in the gentian family, Gentianaceae. It is sometimes included in the genus Centaurium.
Zeltnera is a genus of flowering plants in the gentian family. It was erected in 2004 when the genus Centaurium was split. Genetic analysis revealed that Centaurium was polyphyletic, made up of plants that could be grouped into four clades. Each became a genus. Centaurium remained, but it is now limited to the Eurasian species. The Mexican species now belong to genus Gyrandra, and the Mediterranean and Australian plants are in genus Schenkia. The new name Zeltnera was given to this genus, which contains most of the North American centauries. There are about 25 species.
Cuscuta australis, commonly known as Australian dodder, is a herb in the family Convolvulaceae.
Actinobole uliginosum, the flannel cudweed, is a species of dwarf annual herb in the family Asteraceae, which is endemic to Australia. It occurs in every state of mainland Australia.
Gyrandra is a genus of flowering plants in the family Gentianaceae, found in Texas, Mexico and Central America. Annual herbs, they are usually found in montane pine-oak forests.
Veronicastrum wulingense, known as wu ling fu shui cao, is a herbaceous plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is endemic to a small geographic range in China. The perennial herb is from the genus Veronicastrum, a genus that is used in traditional Chinese medicine. Stemming from the family Plantaginaceae, there are close to twenty species of Veronicastrum, with a primary geographic location in East Asia, though there is one species, Veronicastrum virginicum that is endemic to North America.