''Argophyllum lejourdanii'' is a plant in the

Argophyllaceae Argophyllaceae is a family (biology), family of shrubs or small trees belonging to the order (biology), order Asterales. The family includes c. 24 species in two genus, genera, ''Argophyllum'' and ''Corokia''. Members of the family are native to ...

family endemic to a part of north eastern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. It was described and named in 1863.

Taxonomy

This species was first described (as ''A. lejourdani'') in 1863 by the German-born Australian botanist

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

who published it in his work ''

Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae ''Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'' is a series of papers written by the Victorian Government botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in which he published many of his approximately 2000 descriptions of new taxa of Australian plants. Including the p ...

''. In a 1900 review published in ''The Queensland Flora'',

Frederick Manson Bailey Frederick Manson Bailey (8 March 1827 – 25 June 1915) was a botanist active in Australia, who made valuable contributions to the characterisation of the flora of Queensland. He was known by his middle name, Manson. Early life Bailey was bo ...

described a new

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

''L. l.'' var. ''cryptophleba'' and respelled the

species epithet Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany) ...

with an extra "i", making it ''lejourdanii'', presumably as a correction of the Latin grammar. More than a hundred years later,

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. Caree ...

and Paul Forster conducted a wide-scale review of the genus in which they redefined ''A. lejourdanii'' and described seven new species—including promoting ''A. l.'' var. ''cryptophleba'' to species status as '' Argophyllum cryptophlebum''. They publishing their findings in the Journal ''

Austrobaileya ''Austrobaileya'' is the sole genus in the plant family Austrobaileyaceae – the family is thus 'monotypic' as it includes a single child taxon. It is one of the basal angiosperm families, the most ancient group of flowering plants. The genu ...

'' in 2018. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wikt:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally associated. In other words, a type is an example that serves to ancho ...

for this species was collected in 1863 in the Kennedy District of north Queensland by

John Dallachy John Dallachy (c. 1808 – 4 June 1871) was a curator of Melbourne Botanic Gardens and a plant collector. Dallachy was born in Elginshire, Scotland. He worked as a gardener for the Earl of Aberdeen and Kew Gardens. In 1847, he went to Ceylon t ...

Etymology

The genus name ''Argophyllum'' is derived from Ancient Greek '' Árgos'' meaning white or shining, and '' phúllon'' meaning leaf. It refers to the white colouration of the underside of the leaves. The

''lejourdanii'' is named for Alfred Lejourdan who was one of Mueller's correspondents.

Distribution and habitat

''A. lejourdanii'' is endemic to north eastern Queensland, from

Murray Falls The Murray Falls, a cascade waterfall on the Murray River, is located in the UNESCO World Heritagelisted Wet Tropics in Murray Upper, Cassowary Coast Region in the Far North region of Queensland, Australia. Location and features The Murra ...

near Cardwell north to Mount Elliot south of

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, at elevations ranging from . It usually inhabits open forest but is also found on the edges of rainforest, near rocky outcrops, and along stream margins.

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

. , it has not been assessed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

References

External links

View a map
of historical sightings of this species at the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgama ...

View observations
of this species on

iNaturalist iNaturalist is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit social network of naturalists, citizen scientists, and biologists built on the concept of mapping and sharing observations of biodiversity across the globe. iNaturalist may be accessed via its web ...

View images
of this species on Flickriver {{Taxonbar, from=Q17479766 Endemic flora of Queensland Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Taxa named by Frederick Manson Bailey lejourdanii Plants described in 1863