''Goodenia mystrophylla'' is a 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 native to eastern Australia and New Guinea. It is a small,

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 lance-shaped leaves, prostrate or low-lying flower stems and yellow flowers with purplish markings.

Description

''Goodenia mystrophylla'' is a perennial herb with lance-shaped leaves, the narrower end towards the base, up to long and wide, sometimes with toothed edges. The flowers are yellow with purplish markings, long with

bracteoles In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also look ...

up to long at the base, on a low-lying or prostrate flowering stem up to long. 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 oblong to more or less heart-shaped, long and the wings are about wide. Flowering occurs in most months and the capsule is oval, containing a round seed in diameter.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1810 by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

who gave it the name ''Velleia spathulata'' in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

''. In 2020,

Kelly Anne Shepherd Kelly Anne Shepherd (born 1970) is an Australian botanist, who has published some 91 names. Career Shepherd earned a B.Sc. (Hon) in 1992 with a thesis entitled "Faecal Analysis of Mammalian Herbivores in the Perup Forest, Western Australia." ...

and others transferred it to the genus ''

Goodenia ''Goodenia'' is a genus of about two hundred species of flowering plants in the family Goodeniaceae. Plants in this genus are herbs or shrubs, mostly endemic to Australia. The leaves are variably-shaped, the flowers arranged in small groups, with ...

'' but the name ''G. spathulata'' was unavailable as it was preoccupied by a species described by

de Vriese De Vriese is a Flemish surname. It is one of several Belgian equivalents of the much more numerous Dutch family name De Vries. Notable people with this family name include: * Bertha De Vriese (1877–1958), Belgian physician * Emmerik De Vriese ( ...

, (now known as '' Goodenia bellidifolia''). Shepherd named the new species ''G. mystrophylla''. 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 ...

(''mystrophylla'') is derived from the Greek language, referring to the oblanceolate or "spoon shape" of the leaves.

Distribution and habitat

''Goodenia mystrophylla'' grows in sandy soil, usually on sand dunes, from Cape York in Queensland to

Narrabeen Narrabeen is a beachside suburb of northern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres northeast of the business district, shared by the local government area of Northern Beaches Council and the Northern Beaches region. The bay wa ...

in New South Wales. It also occurs in western

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

and in the

Louisiade Archipelago The Louisiade Archipelago is a string of ten larger volcanic islands frequently fringed by coral reefs, and 90 smaller coral islands in Papua New Guinea. It is located 200 km southeast of New Guinea, stretching over more than and spread o ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q106905764 mystrophylla Flora of Queensland Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 2020 Taxa named by Kelly Anne Shepherd