Sprengelia monticola

Sprengelia monticola, commonly known as rock sprengelia,[2] is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to the Blue Mountains in eastern New South Wales. It is an open or low-lying shrub with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Sprengelia monticola
In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Sprengelia
Species:
S. monticola
Binomial name
Sprengelia monticola
Synonyms[1]
  • Ponceletia monticola A.Cunn. ex DC.
  • Sprengelia monticola (A.Cunn. ex DC.) Domin isonym
  • Sprengelia ponceletioides Sond.
Habit in the Blue Mountains National Park

Description

Sprengelia monticola is an open or low-lying, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of 20–50 cm (7.9–19.7 in). The leaves are egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 3.0–8.5 mm (0.12–0.33 in) long and 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) wide with a small point on the end. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils, with tapering, egg-shaped bracts at the base. The sepals are triangular to egg-shaped, about 7 mm (0.28 in) long and the petals white, sometimes joined at the base to form a tube 0.2–0.3 mm (0.0079–0.0118 in) long with lobes 8–9 mm (0.31–0.35 in) long. Flowering occurs from September to December and the fruit is a capsule about 2 mm (0.079 in) in diameter.[2]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1839 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis and was given the name Ponceletia monticola from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham.[3][4] In 1917, George Claridge Druce changed the name to Sprengelia monticola in the supplement to The Botanical Exchange Club and Society of the British Isles Report for 1916.[5] The specific epithet (monticola) means "dweller in mountains".[6]

Habitat and distribution

Rock sprengelia grows on wet sandstone rocks and cliff ledges in the Blue Mountains of eastern New South Wales, often with cliff ledge vegetation such as king fern (Todea barbara) and Dracophyllum secundum.[2][7]

References
  1. "Sprengelia monticola". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  2. Powell, Jocelyn M. "Sprengelia monticola". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  3. "Ponceletia monticola". APNI. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  4. de Candolle, Augustin P. (1839). Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Vol. 7. Paris. p. 768. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  5. "Sprengelia monticola". APNI. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  6. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 255. ISBN 9780958034180.
  7. Benson, Doug; MacDougall, Lyn (1995). "Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 3: Dicotyledon families Cabombaceae to Eupomataceae". Cunninghamia. 4 (2): 385. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
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