''Muniria angustisepala'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the mint

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

and is endemic to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

. It is an erect shrub with softly hairy, warty leaves and pale yellow, woolly flowers.

Description

''Muniria angustisepala'' is shrub which grows to a height of about and has branches that have four corners in cross-section and are densely hairy. The leaves are elliptic to lance-shaped, long, wide, softly hairy, have a wrinkled, blistered upper surface. The leaf stalk is a further long. The flowers are solitary in groups of up to three in leaf

axil A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, fl ...

s on a short, sticky, hairy stalk. There are sticky, hairy

bract 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 lo ...

s and

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 ...

at the base of the flower. The five

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'' ...

s are long and joined at their bases to form a short tube. The sepals are linear to narrow lance-shaped, sticky and hairy and ribbed on the outside. The

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 are pale yellow, long and joined to form a tube long, sticky and slightly hairy on the outside but

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, ...

on the inside except for a dense ring of hairs around the

ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...

and a few hairs on the largest petal lobe. The petal lobes are broad egg-shaped and about long with the middle lower lobe the largest. The four

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s extend beyond the end of the tube, the lower pair longer than the upper ones. Flowering occurs from January to September and is followed by fruit which is oblong but with four distinct ridges and has the sepals attached.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1979 by

Ahmad Abid Munir Ahmad () is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other English spellings of the name include Ahmed. It is also used as a surname. Etymology The word derives from the root ( ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from ...

from a specimen collected near the UDP Falls (now Gunlom Falls). It was given the name ''Pityrodia angustisepala'' and the description was published in ''Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens''. In 2011,

Barry Conn Barry John Conn (Barry Conn, born 1948), is an Australian botanist. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Adelaide University in 1982 for work on ''Prostanthera''. Career Conn's first appointment as a botanist was with the Lae Herbarium in 1974. He ...

, Murray Henwood and Nicola Streiber described a new genus, ''

Muniria ''Muniria'' is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the mint Family (biology), family, Lamiaceae and is Endemism, endemic to the Northern Territory in Australia. Plants in this genus are woolly shrubs with five petals joined to form ...

'' and transferred this species to it. 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 ...

(''angustisepala'') is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''angustus'' meaning "narrow" and the

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

''sepalum'' meaning "sepal".

Distribution

This species only occurs in northern parts of the Northern Territory, including in Kakadu,

Limmen Limmen is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Castricum, and is situated about 9 km southwest of Alkmaar. Before 2002 it was a separate municipality. History Limmen has been mentioned in various ...

, and Nitmiluk National Parks in the

Arnhem Plateau The Arnhem Plateau is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, Australian bioregion located in the Northern Territory of Australia, comprising an area of of the raised and heavily dissected sandstone plateau that characterises c ...

Darwin Coastal The Darwin Coastal, an IBRA bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory of Australia.IBR ...

Gulf Coastal The Gulf Coastal, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,IBR ...

Gulf Fall and Uplands The Gulf Fall and Uplands, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Queensland,

and Pine Creek biogeographic regions.

Conservation

''Muniria angustisepala'' is classified as "least concern" under the ''

Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

''.

References

External links

''Muniria angustisepala'' occurrence data
from

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgama ...

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q28184827 angustisepala Plants described in 1979 Flora of the Northern Territory