''Bossiaea aquifolium'', commonly known as water bush, nedik
or netic, is a species of
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 ...
in the pea family
and is endemic to
Southwest Australia
Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna.
The region is also known as the Southwest Aus ...
. It is a slender shrub or small tree with egg-shaped leaves arranged in opposite pairs and yellowish flowers arranged singly or in pairs on the ends of branchlets.
Description
''Bossiaea aquifolium'' is a slender shrub or tree that typically grows to a height of up to and has thin, sometimes hairy branchlets. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs and are holly-like, egg-shaped to more or less round, either with wavy edges and nine or more sharp points on the edges or more than fifteen teeth with only a single sharp point on the tip. The leaves are long and wide on a
petiole long with broadly triangular
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). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...
s at the base that are shorter than the petiole. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs in leaf axils near the ends of branchlets with egg-shaped
bract
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
s on the
peduncle. The five
sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...
s are joined at the base forming a tube long, the upper two lobes long, the lower three lobes long. The
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
petal is more or less round, long, yellow to orange with a reddish-brown base, the
wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
wide and reddish, sometimes orange or yellow near the tip, and the
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
long and deep red to reddish-brown. Flowering occurs from July to November and the fruit is an oval to egg-shaped
pod long. The seeds are reddish to brownish and there are about 70 seeds per gram.
Taxonomy and naming
''Bossiaea aquifolium'' was first described in 1864 by the botanist
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 studi ...
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 be ...
'' from specimens collected by
James Drummond.
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 ...
(''aquifolium'') is the pre-
Linnaean name for
holly
''Ilex'' (), or holly, is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...
.
The
Noongar
The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...
peoples know the tree as ''netic''.
The common name "water bush" is apt because rainwater collects in leaf axils, and splashes when the plant is brushed against.
In 1994,
James H. Ross reduced ''Bossiaea laidlawiana''
Tovey & P.Morris to a subspecies of ''Bossiaea aquifolium'' as ''Bossiaea aquifolium'' subsp. ''laidlawiana'' in the journal ''
Muelleria'' 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 Syst ...
:
* ''Bossiaea aquifolium''
Benth. subsp. ''aquifolium''
has leaves with between five and eleven sharp point on the edges, the edges wavy between the points;
* ''Bossiaea aquifolium'' subsp. ''laidlawiana''
(Tovey & P.Morris) J.H.Ross has leaves with only the tip having a sharp point, but there are eleven to twenty-five teeth on the edges, and there is no wavy edge between the teeth.
Distribution and habitat
Water bush grows in clay or loam soils over
laterite
Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...
or
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 ...
.
[ It is a common understorey shrub in forested areas where ]jarrah
''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...
and marri trees are found in the Jarrah Forest
Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...
, Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...
and Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval A ...
biogeographic regions.[ Subspecies ''aquifolium'' occurs from near Mundaring to near ]Margaret River
The Margaret River is a river in southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River.
The river arises from a catchment of just 40 square kilometres in the Whicher Range.
The ...
and inland to Collie
Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...
and Nannup, and subsp. ''laidlawiana'' from near Nannup and south to near Lake Muir
Lake Muir is a freshwater lake, with a larger surrounding wetlands area, that is located in the South West region of Western Australia. The lake lies near Muirs Highway, north of Walpole and southeast of Manjimup.
Description
The lake has a ...
.
Conservation status
Both subspecies of ''B. aquifolium'' are listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife
The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...
.
Use in horticulture
This species can be grown from seed and prefers a light to medium well-drained moist soil in a semi-protected position. It is drought resistant
Drought tolerance is the ability to which a plant maintains its biomass production during arid or drought conditions. Some plants are naturally adapted to dry conditions'','' surviving with protection mechanisms such as desiccation tolerance, deto ...
but susceptible to frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...
. Hot water treatment or scarification
Scarification involves scratching, etching, burning/branding, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification or body art. The body modification can take roughly 6–12 months to heal. In the p ...
is recommended prior to planting.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4947577
aquifolium
Rosids of Western Australia
Taxa named by George Bentham
Plants described in 1864
Endemic flora of Southwest Australia