''Boronia amplectens'' is a plant in the citrus

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Rutaceae The Rutaceae () is a family (biology), family, commonly known as the rueRUTACEAE
in Bo ...

and is only known from two specimens collected from the

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

plateau in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

of Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with narrow elliptic leaves and four-

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

led flowers.

Description

''Boronia amplectens'' is a sprawling shrub that grows to wide. Its branches are covered with star-like hairs. The leaves are narrow elliptic, long and wide with a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

long. The flowers are usually arranged singly in leaf

axil A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

s on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

up to long. The four

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are larger than the

s, long and wide. The four

s are long but increase in length as the fruit develops. Flowering has been observed in March and May and the fruit is a capsule about long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming

''Boronia amplectens'' was first formally described in 1997 by

Marco Duretto Marco Duretto (born 1964) is a manager and senior research scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney in Australia. His primary research interests are systematics and conservation of Rutaceae, Rubiaceae, Orchidaceae, Stylidiaceae and evoluti ...

who published the description in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as b ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''amplectens'') is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''amplector'' meaning "encircle", "enfold" or "embrace".

Distribution and habitat

This boronia is only known from two plants growing on the Arnhem Land plateau in the Northern Territory.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15388517 amplectens Flora of the Northern Territory Plants described in 1997 Taxa named by Marco Duretto