''Bedfordia arborescens'', known as the blanket leaf, is a shrub or small tree of south eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It occurs in or around temperate

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s in areas of high altitude. The natural range of distribution on the mainland is from the

Otway Ranges The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated approximately southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It conta ...

and

Wilsons Promontory Wilsons Promontory, is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria. South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promontory and hence of mainland Australia. Located at nearb ...

(39° S) in the far south east of the Australian continent to Monga National Park (35° S) near

Braidwood, New South Wales Braidwood is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council. It is located on the Kings Highway linking Canberra with Batemans Bay. It is approximately 200 kilometres south west of Syd ...

. There is also an isolated occurrence in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

on Cape Barren Island. Other common names are blanket bush, flannel leaf and tree blanketleaf.

Description

Usually 3 to 6 metres in height, sometimes reaching 12 metres tall and a 45 cm trunk diameter. The long leaves and their ''woolly'' white underside makes it easy to identify. Blanket Leaf is often crooked and asymmetrical. The trunk is not straight, irregular in cross section but not buttressed. The main branches form close to the ground. Small branches covered in a whitish felt. Older branches covered in stringy and flaky brown bark. Leaves alternate, entire, wavy edged. White underneath, dull green above. 15 to 24 cm long and 2 to 4 cm wide. The midrib is sunken on the top side, but raised on the lower side. Yellow flowers without ray florets form on

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

s in November to January. The fruit is a ribbed

achene An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

, whitish with bristles on the top. 8 mm long in the shape of a cigar. Fruiting occurs from December to January. Whilst in no way related, the first impression of a healthy stand of blanket tree is strongly reminiscent of the rhododendrons of the Himalayas and China. This is due to similar growth habit, leaf arrangement and shape and is consistent with a plant which grows in the middle vegetation layers, and which has the role of shading the ground. Following the bushfires in the summer of 2006 in the Howqua Valley, Victoria, Australia, a substantial area of forest has been colonised by Bedfordia arborescens as an understory in the eucalypt dominated valleys south of Mount Timbertop.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described by Swiss botanist Bénédict Hochreutiner in the 5th volume of ''

Candollea ''Stylidium'' (also known as triggerplants or trigger plants) is a genus of dicotyledonous plants that belong to the family Stylidiaceae. The genus name ''Stylidium'' is derived from the Greek ''στύλος'' or ''stylos'' (column or pillar), wh ...

'' in 1934. His description was based on plant material collected from the Black Spur in Victoria in February 1905.

References

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(other publication details, included in citation)
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4879231 Senecioneae Asterales of Australia Trees of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (state)