''Homoranthus biflorus'' is a flowering plant in the family

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

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 northern New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with cylinder-shaped leaves and small groups of usually yellow flowers.

Description

''Homoranthus biflorus'' is an erect shrub which grows to a height of . It has

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, ...

, linear, more or less cylinder-shaped leaves with a pointed tip. The leaf blade is linear in side view, less than thick. Flowers appear singly or in pairs and are red, yellow, or greenish-yellow with

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s about long surrounding the base of a

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

which is long. Flowers and fruits sporadically throughout the year, although primarily between October and January.

Taxonomy and naming

''Homoranthus biflorus'' was first formally described in 1991 by

Lyndley Craven Lyndley Alan Craven (3 September 1945 – 11 July 2014) was a botanist who became the Principal Research Scientist of the Australian National Herbarium. Lyndley ("Lyn") Craven worked for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organ ...

and Sandra Raelene Jones and the description was published in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as b ...

''. 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 ...

(''biflorus'') means "two flowered".

Distribution and habitat

This homoranthus grows in heath and woodland on volcanic ridges on the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

of New South Wales.

Conservation status

Locally common though restricted in distribution,

Barbara Briggs Barbara Gillian Briggs (born 1934) is one of the foremost Australian botanists. The '' IK'' lists 205 names of plants which have been published or co-published by her. She was one of the botanists in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, of th1998 APG ...

and John Leigh (1996) gave this species a conservation code of 2RCat;. However 2RC is more appropriate given that some plants near Pindarri Dam are unreserved.

References

External links

The Australasian Virtual Herbarium – Occurrence data for ''Homoranthus biflorus''
{{Taxonbar, from= Q15367513 biflorus Flora of New South Wales Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1991