''Cryptandra orbicularis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae ...

and is endemic to south-eastern

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. It is a shrub with more or less round or kidney-shaped leaves and white to creamy-white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Cryptandra orbicularis'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of , its branchlets covered with white, star-shaped hairs but not spiny. Its leaves are more or less round, kidney-shaped or sometimes egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide. There are narrowly triangular

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s long and joined to each other at the base of the petiole. Both surfaces of the leaves are more or less

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...

. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils with several elliptic bracts at the base. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s are white to creamy-white, forming a cylindrical to bell-shaped tube long with spreading lobes long and hairy. The petals protrude beyond the sepal tube, and form a hood over the

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s. Flowering has been observed from August to October, and the fruit is a

schizocarp A schizocarp is a dry fruit that, when mature, splits up into mericarps. There are different definitions: * Any dry fruit composed of multiple carpels that separate. : Under this definition the mericarps can contain one or more seeds (the m ...

Taxonomy and naming

''Cryptandra orbicularis'' was first formally described in 2004 by

Anthony Bean Anthony Russell Bean (born 1957) is an Australian botanist who works at the Queensland Herbarium and Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha. Since 1982, he has led the Eucalyptus Study Group of the Society for Growing Australian Plants. Care ...

in the journal ''

Austrobaileya ''Austrobaileya'' is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species ''Austrobaileya scandens'' grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeast ...

'' from specimens collected in

Expedition National Park Expedition is a national park in Queensland, Australia, 490 km northwest of Brisbane. It is named for the Expedition Range of mountains. The park is part of the Brigalow Belt bioregion. This area is mostly dominated by dry eucalyptus forest ...

in 2000. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''orbicularis'') refers to the usual shape of the leaves.

Distribution and habitat

This cryptandra grows in shrubby woodland between Cracow and

Rolleston Rolleston may refer to: Places * Rolleston, Queensland, Australia * Rolleston, Leicestershire, England * Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, England ** Rolleston railway station * Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire, England ** Rolleston Hall * Rolleston ...

in south-eastern Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15537956 orbicularis Rosales of Australia Flora of Queensland Plants described in 2004 Taxa named by Anthony Bean