''Bursaria'' is a genus of eight species of flowering plants in the family

Pittosporaceae Pittosporaceae is a family of flowering plants that consists of 200–240 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 9 genera. Habitats range from tropical to temperate climates of the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, Oceanian, and Australasian r ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to Australia. They are shrubs or slender trees, often with spiny branches and have

simple leaves 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 ...

, relatively small flowers with five

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, five petals and five

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s, and fruit that is a flattened, thin-walled capsule.

Description

Plants in the genus ''Bursaria'' range from low shrubs to small, slender trees and have branches that are often spiny. The leaves are arranged alternately along the branches or clustered and are linear to lance-shaped, egg-shaped or wedge-shaped, sometimes with toothed edges or a notched tip. The flowers are relatively small, arranged singly in

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s or

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s at the ends of branchlets or in leaf axils. There are five sepals that are free from each other, five narrow oblong, spreading white petals, and five stamens that are free from each other. The fruit is a flattened, thin-walled capsule containing ten to fifty kidney-shaped seeds.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Bursaria'' was first formally described in 1797 by Antonio Cavanilles in his book ''Icones et descriptiones plantarum'' and the first species he described was ''

Bursaria spinosa ''Bursaria spinosa'' is a small tree or shrub in the family Pittosporaceae. The species occurs mainly in the eastern and southern half of Australia and not in Western Australia or the Northern Territory. Reaching 10 m (35 ft) high, it ...

''. The genus name, ''Bursaria'' means "possessing a bag or a satchel".

Species list

The names of eight species are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

as of October 2021: * ''

Bursaria calcicola ''Bursaria calcicola'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to a restricted area near Wombeyan Caves in New South Wales. It is a spiny, hairy, erect or sprawling shrub with clustered, narrowly elliptic to e ...

'' L.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford (N.S.W.) * ''

Bursaria cayzerae ''Bursaria cayzerae'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to the North Coast of New South Wales. It is a sparsely-branched shrub with spiny branches, narrowly elliptic leaves, flowers with five glabrous se ...

'' I.Telford & L.M.Copel. (N.S.W.) * ''

Bursaria incana ''Bursaria incana'', commonly known as prickly pine, box thorn, native box, native olive and mock orange, is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a tall shrub or small, sparse tree ...

Lindl. John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley ...

(N.T., Qld.) * ''

Bursaria longisepala ''Bursaria longisepala'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a spiny, sprawling shrub with narrowly elliptic leaves clustered around spiny side-shoots, flowers with relatively lar ...

'' Domin (N.S.W.) * ''

Bursaria occidentalis ''Bursaria occidentalis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a spiny tree or shrub with egg-shaped adult leaves, flowers with relatively small, hairy sepals and five spreading ...

'' E.M.Benn. (W.A.) * '' Bursaria reevesii'' L.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford (Qld.) * ''

'' Cav. – sweet bursaria, blackthorn (S.A., Qld., N.S.W., Vic., Tas.) * ''

Bursaria tenuifolia ''Bursaria tenuifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Pittosporaceae and is endemic to north-eastern Queensland. It is a shrub or spindly tree with elliptic to rhombic adult leaves, spiny foliage when young, flowers with five whit ...

F.M.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 ...

(Qld.)

Distribution

Species of ''Bursaria'' occur in all Australian states and territories and 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 ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q339210 Apiales of Australia Pittosporaceae Apiales genera Taxa named by Antonio José Cavanilles