''Goodenia brendannarum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Goodeniaceae Goodeniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asterales. It contains about 404 species in twelve genera. The family is distributed mostly in Australia, except for the genus '' Scaevola'', which is pantropical. Its species are found ac ...

, 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 a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is a

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

with woody stems, crowded, narrowly egg-shaped leaves with toothed edges, and erect flowering stems and orange-yellow and red flowers.

Description

''Goodenia brendannarum'' is a more or less

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

, perennial herb with erect stems up to long. Its leaves are sessile and crowded, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide with toothed edges. The flowers are borne on a flowering stem up to long with linear bracteoles up to long at the base. The lower

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'' ...

is about long, and the petals are orange-yellow and red, about long and hairy, with wings about wide almost to the base of the lower sepal. Flowering mainly occurs from October to December and the fruit contains up to 4 seeds about long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1912 by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

who gave it the name ''Velleia macrophylla'' var. ''foliosa'' in his ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

'' from specimens collected by James Drummond from the summit of the

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranbro ...

. In 2020, Kelly Anne Shepherd and others transferred it to the genus '' Goodenia'' but the name ''G. foliosa'' was unavailable as it was preoccupied by a species described by

Karel Domin Karel Domin (4 May 1882 – 10 June 1953) was a Czech botanist and politician. Biography Domin was 4 May 1882, Kutná Hora, Kingdom of Bohemia, Austria-Hungary. After gymnasium school studies in Příbram, he studied botany at the Charles Uni ...

. Shepherd named the new species ''G. brendannarum'' in honour of

Brendan Lepschi Brendan John Lepschi (born 1969) is an Australian botanist, whose interests include the taxonomy of the genus ''Melaleuca'', the families Santalaceae and Goodeniaceae and how exotic species become naturalised. He is the curator of the Australian ...

and

Anna Monro Anna Monro (born 1974) is an Australian botanist, who is working on compiling the Australian Plant Census. Her interests include the taxonomy of the Australian members of the family ''Polygalaceae'', in preparation for their inclusion in the '' ...

in recognition of their service to the botanical community.

Distribution and habitat

''Goodenia brendannarum'' grows in rocky places in the Stirling Range in the south-west of Western Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q106905726 Flora of Western Australia brendannarum Taxa named by Kelly Anne Shepherd Plants described in 2020