''Spyridium buxifolium'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large Family (biology), family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 specie ...

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 New South Wales. It is a spreading shrub with egg-shaped to elliptic leaves, and heads of white, softly-hairy flowers with brown

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 at the base of the heads.

Description

''Spyridium buxifolium'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of . The leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic, long and wide with linear brown

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole (botany), petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part ...

s long at the base. The upper surface of the leaves is dark green and the lower surfaces in usually covered with greyish, woolly hairs. The heads of flowers are arranged on the ends of branches and are wide with brown bracts at the base of the heads. The flowers are long and covered with soft, white hairs. Flowering mostly occurs in winter and spring.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1837 by

Eduard Fenzl Eduard Fenzl (1808, in Krummnußbaum – 1879, in Vienna) was an Austrian botanist. Life and contributions An obituary notes " ewas Professor of Botany and Director of the Imperial Botanical Cabinet, a member of the Vienna Academy of Sciences, ...

who gave it the name ''Cryptandra buxifolia'' in

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...

's '' Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel'', of specimens collected by Allan Cunningham. In 2004,

Kevin Thiele Kevin R. Thiele is currently an adjunct associate professor at the University of Western Australia and the director of Taxonomy Australia. He was the curator of the Western Australian Herbarium from 2006 to 2015. His research interests include ...

changed the name to ''Spyridium buxifolium'' in the journal '' Telopea''. 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 ...

(''buxifolium'') means "box-tree leaved".

Distribution

''Spyridium buxifolium'' occurs mainly in the upper

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

and nearby Howes Valley.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241512 buxifolium Rosales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Taxa named by Eduard Fenzl Plants described in 1837