Actinotus

Actinotus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, subfamily Mackinlayoideae, with about 18 species. It is native to Australasia. Its best known member is the flannel flower, a common sight in Sydney bushland in the spring. The generic name, meaning "furnished with rays" is derived from the Greek stem aktin-/ακτιν- "ray" or "sunbeam".[1][2]

Actinotus
White Flannel Flower (Actinotus helianthi) surrounded by Pink Flannel Flower (Actinotus forsythii)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Apiaceae
Subfamily: Mackinlayoideae
Genus: Actinotus
Labill.
Species

See text

Most species are endemic to Australia with one from New Zealand. Other notable species are A. schwarzii from the Macdonnell Ranges in Central Australia, which closely resembles A. helianthi in appearance, and the rare pink-flowering A. forsythii from the Blue Mountains.[2]

The genus was established by the French botanist Jacques Labillardière with his description of A. helianthi on page 67 of the first volume of his Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen. However the habitat statement is anomalous and according to historian Edward Duyker Labillardière could not have collected the type specimen personally and might have received it from Jean-Baptiste Leschenault de La Tour botanist on the expedition of Nicolas Baudin or another early French visitor to New South Wales.[3]

Its closest relative is Apiopetalum from New Caledonia.[4]

Species include:[5]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Actinotus.
  1. Liddell & Scott (1980). Greek-English Lexicon, Abridged Edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
  2. Blombery, Alec (1965). "The genus Actinotus". Australian Plants. ASGAP. 3 (22): 63–65. ISSN 0005-0008.
  3. Duyker Citizen Labillardière(2003) p. 232.
  4. Nicolas, A. N., and G. M. Plunkett. (2009) The Demise of Subfamily Hydrocotyloideae (Apiaceae) and the Re-Alignment of Its Genera across the Entire Order Apiales.” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53 (1): 134–51.
  5. "Actinotus". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 2008-09-14.
  6. "Actinotus Labill. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2020-03-02.


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