''Baeckea latifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a shrub with broadly elliptic leaves and small white flowers with six to eight

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 ...

Description

''Baeckea latifolia'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has arching branches. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are about in diameter and are borne singly in leaf axils, each flower on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

about long. The sepals are oblong, long and the petals are white, more or less round and long. There are six to eight stamens in groups of up to three, the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

has two

locule A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus). In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...

s and the style is about long. Flowering occurs in January and February and the fruit is a cylindrical capsule long.

Taxonomy

This baeckea was first formally described in 1867 by George Bentham who gave it the name ''Baeckea gunniana'' var. ''latifolia'' in '' Flora Australiensis'' from specimens collected by

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 ...

in "Baw-Baw Mountains. In 1997,

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 ...

raised the variety to species status as ''Baeckea latifolia'' in the journal '' Telopea''. 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 ...

(''latifolia'') means "broad-leaved".

Distribution and habitat

''Baeckea latifolia'' grows in the edges of snow gum woodlands and in grassland at altitudes above in eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15401187 latifolia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1867 Taxa named by George Bentham