''Commersonia obliqua'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

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 ...

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (; ), is an island country in Melanesia located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, east o ...

. It is a shrub or tree with lance-shaped leaves and white flowers.

Description

''Commersonia obliqua'' is a shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of , its branchlets covered with soft, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are lance-shaped, long and wide on 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 with narrowly triangular

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s long at the base. The flowers are in diameter with five petal-like

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, the lobes broadly egg-shaped, long, and five petals long with a

ligule A ligule (from "strap", variant of ''lingula'', from ''lingua'' "tongue") is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above g ...

long on the end. Flowering occurs from April to September and the fruit is a bristly capsule in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Commersonia obliqua'' was first formally described in 2005 by Gordon P. Guymer in the journal '' Austrobaileya'' from specimens collected near

Undine Bay Undine Bay is a bay on the northern coast of Efate, Vanuatu. It lies between the main island and the smaller islands of Nguna Island and Pele Island Pélé, sometimes spelled Pele in English, is a volcanic island located 11,2 miles north of the ...

in 1928. 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 ...

(''obliqua'') refers to the oblique leaf bases.

Distribution and habitat

This commersonia grows in tropical lowland rainforest in Vanuatu.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15363547 obliqua Endemic flora of Vanuatu Plants described in 2005 Taxa named by Gordon P. Guymer