''Bursaria occidentalis'' 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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is a spiny tree or shrub with egg-shaped adult leaves, flowers with relatively small, hairy

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 and five spreading creamy-white petals, and inflated capsules.

Description

''Bursaria occidentalis'' is a tree that typically grows to a height of , sometimes a shrub to , and usually only has spiny branches when young. The adult leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, hairy on the lower surface, long and wide on a petiole long. The plants have both

andromonoecious Andromonoecy is a breeding system of plant species in which male and hermaphrodite flowers are on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside monoecy, gynomonoecy and trimonoecy. Andromonoecy is frequent among genera with zygomor ...

and bisexual flowers borne in groups on the ends of branchlets, 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 ...

long. The sepals are hairy, less than long and spread from their bases and the petals are creamy-white, long and also spread from their bases. Flowering occurs from August to December and the fruit is an inflated capsule long and wide containing winged, brown seeds.

Taxonomy

''Bursaria occidentalis'' was first formally described in 1978 by

Eleanor Marion Bennett Eleanor Marion Bennett (born 4 February 1942) (née Scrymgeour) is an Australian botanist who was employed by the Western Australian Herbarium from 1965 to 1970. She collected ''Eucalyptus'' species in the south-west of Western Australia and pub ...

in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens she collected near Shark Bay in 1975.

Distribution and habitat

This bursaria grows in mallee woodland between Shark Bay, Dongara and

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

, Coolgardie,

Geraldton Sandplains Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of Western Australia. In some places it may be the only tree species.

References

External links

''Bursaria occidentalis'' occurrence data from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15591110 Pittosporaceae occidentalis Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1978