''Prostanthera cryptandroides'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a 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, mint, rosemary, sage, savo ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to eastern Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with narrow egg-shaped leaves and lilac to mauve flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Description

''Prostanthera cryptandroides'' is a low, spreading, strongly aromatic shrub, the branches with spreading hairs as well as

glandular In animals, a gland is a group of cells in an animal's body that synthesizes substances (such as hormones) for release into the bloodstream (endocrine gland) or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface (exocrine gland). Structure De ...

hairs. The leaves are pale green, narrow egg-shaped, long, wide and

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

or on a petiole up to long. The flowers are tube-shaped and arranged in upper leaf axils near the ends of branchlets. There are

bracteoles In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

long at the base of the flower, but that fall off as the flower develops. The

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 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s are long and form a tube long with two lobes, the upper long. The petals are lilac to mauve and long. Flowering occurs from September to April.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera cryptandroides'' was first formally described in 1834 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 studi ...

from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham and the description was published in Bentham's book ''Labiatarum Genera et Species'' from specimens collected by Cunningham near the Hunter River. In 1999,

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 ...

described two subspecies of ''P. cryptandroides'' in the journal '' Telopea'' and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Prostanthera cryptandroides'' A.Cunn. ex Benth. subsp. ''cryptandroides'' (commonly known as the Wollemi mint-bush) has branches and sepals without stalked glandular hairs; * ''Prostanthera cryptandroides'' subsp. ''euphrasioides''(Benth.) B.J.Conn has stalked glandular hairs on the branches and sepals.

Distribution and habitat

This mint bush grows in forest, often in rocky places and is found from the

Leichhardt Leichhardt may refer to: * Division of Leichhardt, electoral District for the Australian House of Representatives * Leichhardt Highway, a highway of Queensland, Australia * Leichhardt Way, an Australian road route * Leichhardt, New South Wales, in ...

region of north Queensland to northern New South Wales. Wollemi mint-bush has a restricted distribution between the Lithgow and

Sandy Hollow Sandy Hollow is a small rural town in New South Wales, Australia in Muswellbrook Shire. The town is located on the Golden Highway in the far west of the Upper Hunter Region, about 260 km north of Sydney. It is located around halfway bet ...

districts of New South Wales. Populations of subsp. ''cryptandroides'' occur within the

Wollemi The Wollemi National Park () is a protected national park and wilderness area that is located in the northern Blue Mountains and Lower Hunter regions of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The park, the second largest national park in New ...

and

Gardens of Stone National Park The Gardens of Stone National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales in eastern Australia. The national park is situated northwest of Sydney, and northwest of . The national pa ...

Conservation status

Subspecies ''eudesmioides'' is classified as of "least concern" in Queensland. Subspecies ''cryptandroides'' is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

'' and the New South Wales Government '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. The main threats to this subspecies are habitat loss, trampling and grazing, inappropriate fire regimes and weed invasion.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7250954 cryptandroides Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Lamiales of Australia Plants described in 1834 Taxa named by Allan Cunningham (botanist)