''Bursaria incana'', commonly known as prickly pine, box thorn, native box, native olive and mock orange, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Pittosporaceae Pittosporaceae is a family of flowering plants that consists of 200–240 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in 9 genera. Habitats range from tropical to temperate climates of the Afrotropical, Indomalayan, Oceanian, and Australasian realms. T ...

and is

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 else ...

to northern Australia. It is a tall shrub or small, sparse tree with softly-hairy foliage, heart-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, leafy groups of white flowers with five spreading

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 coine ...

s, five spreading petals, and flattened fruit.

Description

''Bursaria incana'' is a tall shrub or sparse tree that typically grows to a height of , its foliage mostly softly-hairy and the young branchlets spiny. Its adult leaves are heart-shaped to lance-shaped or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long, wide on a petiole less than long. The flowers are arranged in leafy groups, 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 ...

less than long. The five sepals are long and free from each other, the five petals white, spreading from the base, long. The five stamens are free from each other and the pistil is densely covered with matted hairs. Flowering occurs in mid-summer, coinciding with the start of the dry season and the fruit is a flattened brown capsule long.

Taxonomy

''Bursaria incana'' was first formally described in 1848 by John Lindley in Thomas Mitchell's ''Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia''. The specific epithet (''incana'') means "grey".

Distribution and habitat

This bursaria occurs throughout most of Queensland apart from near the coast and the arid inland, and in isolated populations in the northern part of the Northern Territory. It usually grows in open, grassy woodland and open forest.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15590688

incana The Socotra warbler (''Incana incana'') is a species of bird in the family Cisticolidae. It is monotypic within the genus ''Incana''. It is endemic to Socotra. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tr ...

Pittosporaceae Plants described in 1848 Flora of the Northern Territory Flora of Queensland