''Spyridium coalitum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
Rhamnaceae
The Rhamnaceae are a large 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 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...
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 elsew ...
to
Kangaroo Island
Kangaroo Island, also known as Karta Pintingga (literally 'Island of the Dead' in the language of the Kaurna people), is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Island. It lies in the state of South Australia, southwest ...
in South Australia. It is a slender, erect shrub with softly-hairy young stems, oblong to narrowly elliptic leaves, and head of white to cream-coloured flowers.
Description
''Spyridium coalitum'' is a slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , its young stems softly-hairy with brownish, simple and star-shaped hairs. The leaves are oblong to narrowly elliptic, mostly long and wide on a
petiole long with reddish-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). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
s the base. The upper surface of the leaves is greyish-green and the lower surface is densely hairy. The
heads
A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may no ...
of flowers are in diameter with floral leaves at the base, the individual flowers
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 ...
, white to cream-coloured and sparsely hairy. 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 b ...
s are about long and the petals long. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a
capsule about long.
Taxonomy
''Spyridium coalitum'' was first formally described in 2012 by
Jürgen Kellermann and
William Barker William Barker may refer to:
Politicians
*William Barker (translator) ( 1570), English translator and MP for Great Yarmouth and Bramber
* William Barker (MP for Berkshire) (died 1685), English Member of Parliament for Berkshire
* Sir William Bark ...
in the journal ''
Muelleria''.
It had previously been known as ''Spyridium halmaturinum'' var. ''integrifolium''
J.M.Black, first published in the ''
'' in 1925.
The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
(''coalitum'') means "united by growth", referring to the stipules that are partly fused.
Distribution
This species of ''Spyridium'' grows in coastal heath, shrubland and forest on limestone, and is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241815
coalitum
Rosales of Australia
Flora of South Australia
Plants described in 2012