''Leionema carruthersii'' is a small shrub that 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 southern

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in Australia. It has mostly greenish-yellow flowers, distinctive stamens and lance to egg-shaped leaves.

Description

''Leionema carruthersii'' is a small shrub up to high. It has oval to lance shaped leaves about long, wide, rolled edges and either heart shaped or squared at the leaf base on needle-like stems that have occasional fine, weak hairs. The leaves are widely spread with a short

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 ...

and the surface is scantily covered with soft, fine, individual hairs. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

consists of 4-10 pendulous flowers on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. The yellowish-green flowers, rarely red, have distinctive, long, red stamens that are considerably longer than the long petals. The flowers are borne at the end of branches arising from the leaf axils or

bracts 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 loo ...

. The calyces are long, cone-shaped with small, triangular lobes. The seed pod is rough with a warty surface, about long with two small horn-like protuberances. Flowering occurs in winter.

Taxonomy and naming

''Leionema carruthersii'' was first formally described in 1998 by Paul G. Wilson and the description was published in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

''.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 ...

(''carruthersii'') derivation is not known for certainty but may have been named after Sir Joseph Carruthers who was a former Premier of New South Wales.

Distribution and habitat

This species has a restricted distribution from

Batemans Bay Batemans Bay is a town in the South Coast region of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Batemans Bay is administered by the Eurobodalla Shire council. The town is situated on the shores of an estuary formed where the Clyde River meets the ...

to Bega on the New South Wales south coast, growing in sclerophyll forests on

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

outcrops.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15392517 carruthersii Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller