''Cryptandra spinescens'' 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 h ...

and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a straggling, much-branched shrub with spiny side-branches, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, and spike-like clusters of white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Cryptandra spinescens'' is a straggling, much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , its side branches less than long and ending in a sharp spine. The leaves are arranged in clusters, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or lance-shaped, usually long and wide with minute stipules at the base. Both surfaces of the leaves are more or less glabrous. The flowers are usually borne singly on short side-branches in spike-like clusters with

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s at the base of each flower. The floral tube is white, tube-shaped, and long with 5 lobes.Flowering occurs from winter to early spring.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cryptandra spinescens'' was first formally described in 1825 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber. 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 ...

(''spinescens'') means "

spinescent In plant morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles, and in general spinose structures (sometimes called ''spinose teeth'' or ''spinose apical processes''), are hard, rigid extensions or modifications of leaves, roots, stems or buds with sharp, s ...

Distribution and habitat

This cryptandra usually grows in open forest, often in rocky places, on the coast and nearby ranges between the Hunter Valley,

Bungonia National Park Bungonia National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Australian state of New South Wales, roughly east of the city of Goulburn, New South Wales, Goulburn and south-west of Sydney. The approximately park borders the Bungo ...

and Tullibigeal in eastern New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15538677 spinescens Rosales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1825 Taxa named by Franz Sieber