''Adenanthos'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' is a

taxonomic section In botany, a section ( la, sectio) is a taxonomic rank below the genus, but above the species. The subgenus, if present, is higher than the section, and the rank of series, if present, is below the section. Sections may in turn be divided into su ...

of the

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

genus ''

Adenanthos ''Adenanthos'' is a genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only genus in the family where solitary flowers are the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally publ ...

'' (

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

). It comprises four species, all of which are endemic to southwest

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Description

The section is characterised by flowers in which the

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

on the back of the style is

sterile Sterile or sterility may refer to: *Asepsis, a state of being free from biological contaminants * Sterile (archaeology), a sediment deposit which contains no evidence of human activity *Sterilization (microbiology), any process that eliminates or ...

, and the style end is broad and flattened.

Taxonomy

The section was first described and published by George Bentham in the 1870 fifth volume of his landmark work '' Flora Australiensis''. Bentham listed several diagnostic characters for the species including the bent and dilated perianth-tube; the sterility of one of the four anthers; the broad, flattened style-end; flat, entire leaves; and axillary flowers. He did not give an etymology for the epithet ''Eurylaema'', but

Ernest Charles Nelson (Ernest) Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially ''Erica'', and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially '' Adenanthos''. H ...

states that it comes from ''eurys'' ("broad") and ''laemos'' ("neck"), referring to the dilated perianth-tube. Bentham also did not designate a

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

for the section; Nelson has since defined '' A. obovatus'' to be its lectotype. When published by Bentham in 1870, ''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' comprised only two species, ''A. barbigera'' (now '' A. barbiger'') and ''A. obovata'' (now ''A. obovatus''). Four years later,

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

published '' A. detmoldii'', referring it to this section. In 1978, Nelson published a comprehensive taxonomic revision of ''Adenanthos''. He retained ''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'', making no change to its circumscription, but discarded many of Bentham's diagnostic characters, retaining only the sterile anther and the shape of the style-end. The following year, Nelson formally described and named ''A.'' × ''pamela'', a naturally occurring hybrid of ''A. detmoldii'' and ''A. obovatus''. Despite both parents belonging to this section, initially he did not assign the hybrid to it; he did so, however, in his 1995 treatment of ''Adenanthos'' for the '' Flora of Australia'' series of monographs. The placement and circumscription of ''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' in Nelson's arrangement of ''Adenanthos'' may be summarised as follows: :''

'' ::''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' :::'' A. detmoldii'' :::'' A. barbiger'' :::'' A. obovatus'' :::'' A. × pamela'' :: ''A.'' sect. ''Adenanthos'' (29 species, 8 subspecies)

Distribution and habitat

All four species in ''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' are endemic to southwest Western Australia.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4682208 Eurylaema Plant sections Eudicots of Western Australia Taxa named by George Bentham