''Cyphanthera albicans'', commonly known as grey ray flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Solanaceae Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

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 south-eastern continental Australia. It is an upright shrub with grey foliage and cream, white or pale yellow flowers.

Description

''Cyphanthera albicans'' is an upright shrub to high, greyish, branches covered densely in short, matted hairs or soft, short hairs. Older leaves are oval to elliptic or more or less egg-shaped, long, wide,

lamina Lamina may refer to: People * Saa Emerson Lamina, Sierra Leonean politician * Tamba Lamina, Sierra Leonean politician and diplomat Science and technology * Planar lamina, a two-dimensional planar closed surface with mass and density, in mathem ...

covered densely in short matted hairs, younger leaves up to long and wide. The corolla is cream or light yellow with purple markings, long, smooth or with soft hairs, lobes oval to squared to nearly linear and long. Flowering occurs from spring to early summer and the fruit a capsule long.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was described in 1853 by Allan Cunningham who gave it the name ''Anthocercis albicans''. In 1853 John Miers transferred the species to ''

Cyphanthera ''Cyphanthera'' is a genus of nine species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae and are endemic to Australia. Taxonomy The genus ''Cyphanthera'' was first formally described in 1853 by John Miers in ''Journal of Natural History''. The g ...

'' as ''C. albicans'' in '' The Annals and Magazine of Natural History''. 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 ...

(''albicans'') means "becoming white" or "whitish". In 1981, Laurie Haegi described three subspecies of ''C. albicans'' in the journal '' Telopea'' and the names 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 ...

: * ''Cyphanthera albicans'' (A.Cunn.) Miers subsp. ''albicans'' has white to creamy-white flowers long, leaves mostly long and hairs long on the branches. * ''Cyphanthera albicans'' subsp. ''notabilis'' Haegi has white to creamy-white flowers long, leaves mostly long and wide, and woolly hairs long on the branches. * ''Cyphanthera albicans'' subsp. ''tomentosa'' (Benth.) Haegi (previously known as ''Anthocercis albicans'' var. ''tomentosa'') has yellow or pale yellow flowers long, leaves mostly long and hairs less than long on the branches.

Distribution and habitat

''Cyphanthera albicans'' subsp. ''albicans'' grows in forest or shrubland in New South Wales from near

Rylstone Rylstone is a village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated very near to Cracoe and about south west of Grassington. The population of the civil parish as of the 2001 census was 122, and had risen to 160 ...

to the

Shoalhaven River The Shoalhaven River is a perennial stream, perennial river that rises from the Southern Tablelands and flows into an open mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary near Nowra on the South Coast, New Sou ...

and also occurs in Queensland and the far north-east of Victoria. Subspecies ''notabilis'' is restricted to the

Warrumbungles The Warrumbungles is a mountain range in the Orana region of New South Wales, Australia. The nearest town is Coonabarabran. The area is easiest accessed from the Newell Highway which is the major road link directly between Melbourne, Victoria ...

and subsp. ''tomentosa'' to western New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q1148146, from2=Q100451049, from3=Q66103560, from4=Q55841477

albicans ''Albicans'' (Latin, 'whitening') may refer to: * Corpus albicans The corpus albicans (Latin for "whitening body"; also known as atretic corpus luteum, corpus candicans, or simply as albicans) is the regressed form of the corpus luteum. As the ...

Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist) Plants described in 1825 Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (state)