Agonis Flexuosa

''Agonis flexuosa'', commonly known as peppermint, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the tree as wanil, wonnow, wonong or wannang. It is a tree or shrub with pendulous, very narrowly elliptic, narrowly elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped leaves, white flowers with 20 to 25 stamens opposite the sepals and broadly top-shaped to broadly cup-shaped capsules.

Description

''Agonis flexuosa'' is usually a tree that typically grows to a height of , sometimes a wind-swept mallee or almost prostrate shrub. Its branchlets are often twisted or zig-zagged, and usually glabrous as they age. The leaves are very narrowly elliptic, narrowly elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped, long and wide and sessile or on a petiole up to long. The leaves sometimes have soft, silky hairs when young, but become glabrous as they age, and have a prominent mid-vein and usually two other veins. The flowers are arranged in clusters wide with broadly egg-shaped bracts and elliptic bracteoles long. The floral tube is long and the sepals are long with silky, greyish hairs. The petals are white, spatula-shaped, long and there are 20 to 25 stamens with 3 to 5, sometimes up to 7 opposite the sepals, but none opposite the petals. The filaments are long and the style long. Flowering occurs from July to December, and the capsule is broadly top-shaped to broadly cup-shaped, long, in clusters wide.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1809 by Carl Ludwig Willdenow who gave it the name ''Metrosideros flexuosa'' in his ''Enumeratio Plantarum Horti Regii Botanici Berolinensis''. In 1830, Robert Sweet transferred the species to ''Agonis'' in his ''Hortus Britannicus''.

The genus name ''Agonis'' comes from the Greek ''agon'' meaning 'a gathering' or 'collection', probably referring to the flower heads and the specific epithet (''flexuosa'') is Latin for 'zig-zag', referring to the zig-zag branches.

In 1844, Johannes Conrad Schauer describes two varieties of ''A. flexuosa'' and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
* ''Agonis flexuosa'' var. ''flexuosa'' is a tree up to high or a wind-pruned shrub, the branches sometimes zig-zagged, with leaves very narrowly elliptic, narrowly elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped, long and more or less flat and not twisted or wavy, and only the mid-vein prominent, the petals long, usually 4 or 5 stamens opposite each petal, and the capsules usually wide. This variety mostly flowers from September to December.
* ''Agonis flexuosa '' var. ''latifolia'' (previously known as ''Billotia flexuosa'' var. ''latifolia'' Otto & A.Dietr.) is a shrub or small tree tup to high, the branches commonly zig-zagged, with leaves usually narrowly egg-shaped, long and often twisted, the mid-vein and two longitudinal veins prominent, the petals long, with 3 or 4 stamens opposite each petal, and the capsules wide. This variety mainly flowers from September to November.

Distribution and habitat

''Agonis flexuosa'' var. ''flexuosa'' occurs in a range of habitats from coastal heath to woodland or forest and in a range of soils, in the Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia, and var. ''latifolia'' mainly grows in sandy soil in heath, shrubland or woodland between Walpole and Cheyne Beach in the Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Warren bioregions, with a record from the Stirling Range.

Uses

Use in horticulture

Horticultural variants are probably derived from the widespread population, growing as shrubs or trees and perhaps being flowerless. Some commercially produced cultivars include ''Agonis'' ‘Belbra Gold’ and ''Agonis'' ‘Fairy Foliage’.

Aboriginal use

The Noongar peoples used the plant leaves as an antiseptic; sapling trunks were used as spear shafts and digging sticks.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q4693406, from2=Q51045899, from3=Q28813495

flexuosa
Trees of Australia
Endemic flora of Southwest Australia
Trees of Mediterranean climate
Ornamental trees
Drought-tolerant trees
Taxa named by Carl Ludwig Willdenow
Plants described in 1809