''Argophyllum palumense'' is a plant in the

Argophyllaceae Argophyllaceae is a family of shrubs or small trees belonging to the order Asterales. The family includes c. 24 species in two genera, '' Argophyllum'' and ''Corokia''. Members of the family are native to eastern Australia, New Zealand, Lord How ...

family

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 a small part of north eastern

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. It was described and named in 2018.

Taxonomy

This species was first described, along with a number of other new species in this

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

, in 2018 by the Australian

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Anthony Bean Anthony Russell Bean (born 1957) is an Australian botanist who works at the Queensland Herbarium and Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha. Since 1982, he has led the Eucalyptus Study Group of the Society for Growing Australian Plants. Care ...

and Paul Forster who published it in the Journal ''

Austrobaileya ''Austrobaileya'' is the sole genus consisting of a single species that constitutes the entire flowering plant family Austrobaileyaceae. The species ''Austrobaileya scandens'' grows naturally only in the Wet Tropics rainforests of northeast ...

''. The

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...

was collected in 2009 in the

Mount Zero-Taravale Sanctuary Mount Zero-Taravale Sanctuary is a 600 km² nature reserve in north-east Queensland, Australia, 60 km north-west of Townsville. It is owned and managed by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). It is located on the boundary of the Wet Trop ...

by Forster.

Etymology

The genus name ''Argophyllum'' is derived from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

'' Ἄργος (Árgos)'' meaning white or shining, and '' φύλλον (phúllon)'' meaning leaf. It refers to the white colouration of the underside of the leaves. The species epithet ''palumense'' refers to the location where this species is found.

Distribution and habitat

''A. palumense'' is endemic to southern parts of the

Wet Tropics of Queensland The Wet Tropics of Queensland World Heritage Site consists of approximately 8,940 km2 of Australian wet tropical forests growing along the north-east Queensland portion of the Great Dividing Range. The Wet Tropics of Queensland meets all f ...

in mountainous terrain of the

Paluma Range National Park Paluma Range is a national park located between Ingham and Townsville, in north Queensland, Australia. The park is 1188 km north of Brisbane. Geography The park contains the Jourama Falls, Crystal Creek and Lake Paluma. Ecology Most of ...

, north east of

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

. It grows on creek banks and hillsides in

wet sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

forest, at elevations from , and on soils derived from

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

Conservation

This species is listed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. , it has not been assessed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

References

External links

View a map
of recorded sightings of ''Argophyllum palumense'' at the

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgamat ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65931132 Endemic flora of Australia Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Paul Irwin Forster Taxa named by Anthony Bean Argophyllaceae