Bursaria occidentalis

Bursaria occidentalis is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a spiny tree or shrub with egg-shaped adult leaves, flowers with relatively small, hairy sepals and five spreading creamy-white petals, and inflated capsules.

Bursaria occidentalis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Apiales
Family: Pittosporaceae
Genus: Bursaria
Species:
B. occidentalis
Binomial name
Bursaria occidentalis

Description

Bursaria occidentalis is a tree that typically grows to a height of 8 m (26 ft), sometimes a shrub to 1.2 m (3 ft 11 in), and usually only has spiny branches when young. The adult leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, hairy on the lower surface, 30–70 mm (1.2–2.8 in) long and 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) wide on a petiole 3–8 mm (0.12–0.31 in) long. The plants have both andromonoecious and bisexual flowers borne in groups on the ends of branchlets, each flower on a pedicel 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long. The sepals are hairy, less than 2 mm (0.079 in) long and spread from their bases and the petals are creamy-white, 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long and also spread from their bases. Flowering occurs from August to December and the fruit is an inflated capsule 10–11 mm (0.39–0.43 in) long and wide containing winged, brown seeds.[3][4]

Taxonomy

Bursaria occidentalis was first formally described in 1978 by Eleanor Marion Bennett in the journal Nuytsia from specimens she collected near Shark Bay in 1975.[5][6]

Distribution and habitat

This bursaria grows in mallee woodland between Shark Bay, Dongara and Menzies in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Geraldton Sandplains, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of Western Australia. In some places it may be the only tree species.[3][4]

References
  1. IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group.; Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). (2020). "Bursaria occidentalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T172668775A172926369. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-2.RLTS.T172668775A172926369.en. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  2. "Bursaria occidentalis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  3. "Bursaria occidentalis E.M.Benn". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  4. Cayzer, Lindy W. "Bursaria occidentalis E.M.Benn". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
  5. "Bursaria occidentalis". APNI. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
  6. Bennett, Eleanor M. (1978). "New taxa and new combinations in Australian Pittosporaceae". Nuytsia. 2 (4): 194. Retrieved 6 November 2021.
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