''Spyridium vexilliferum'', commonly known as winged spyridium, or helicopter bush, 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 south-eastern Australia. It is a small, low-lying to erect shrub with linear to narrowly elliptic leaves, and dense heads of small white flowers.

Description

''Spyridium vexilliferum'' is a low-lying to erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has its branchlets densely covered with star-shaped, often rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are linear to narrowly elliptic, long and wide with narrow, 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 edges of the leaves are rolled under, the upper surface

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, ...

and shiny, the lower surface covered with whitish hairs or often obscured. The heads of "flowers" are about in diameter and shaggy-hairy surrounded by up to 4 egg-shaped or oblong, woolly-white floral leaves. Flowering mainly occurs from September to January.

Taxonomy

In 1834,

William Jackson Hooker Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botany, botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew Gardens, Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botan ...

described ''Cryptandra vexillifera'' in '' The Journal of Botany'' from specimens collected at

Port Dalrymple George Town (palawa kani: ''kinimathatakinta'') is a large town in north-east Tasmania, on the eastern bank of the mouth of the Tamar River. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records the George Town Municipal Area had a population of 6,764 as ...

. In 1858, Siegfried Reissek changed the name to ''Spyridium vexilliferum'' in the journal ''Linnea''. 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 ...

(''vexilliferum'') means "standard-bearing". In 1863,

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 studie ...

described ''S. vexilliferum'' var. ''latifolium'' in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

'', and the name, and that of the

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

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 Sys ...

: * ''Spyridium vexilliferum'' var. ''latifolium'' Benth. is a low-lying shrub up to about high with linear to narrowly elliptic leaves up to wide and elliptic floral leaves. * ''Spyridium vexilliferum'' (Hook.) Reissek var. ''vexilliferum'' Benth. is a low-lying to erect shrub up to about high with linear to narrowly elliptic leaves wide and more or less round floral leaves.

Distribution and habitat

The variety ''vexilliferum'' grows in sandy heath, heathy woodland or mallee and on rocky outcrops from the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Earlier called Eyre's Peninsula, it was named after e ...

in South Australia to scattered locations in south-western Victoria and in the east, north and west of Tasmania. Variety ''latifolium'' is only known from south-eastern South Australia to the

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

area in south-western Victoria.

Conservation status

''Spyridium vexilliferum'' var. ''vexilliferum'' is listed as "rare" in Tasmania under the Tasmanian Government ''

Threatened Species Protection Act 1995 The ''Threatened Species Protection Act 1995'' (TSP Act), is an act of the Parliament of Tasmania that provides the statute relating to conservation of flora and fauna. Its long title is An Act to provide for the protection and management of ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q3494319, from2=Q66122587, from3=Q61717337 vexilliferum Rosales of Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1834 Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker