''Bursaria reevesii'' 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 a few places near

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

in Queensland. It is an erect or sprawling shrub with spiny side-shoots, egg-shaped adult leaves with the narrower end towards the base, flowers with five white petals, and rounded fruit.

Description

''Bursaria reevesii'' is an erect or sprawling, multi-stemmed shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , its young side-shoots armed with spines. New growth has elliptic leaves clustered around the spiny side-shoots, the edges of the leaves toothed. Adult growth has fewer spines and egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are white and arranged in small 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 ...

long with paired bracts at the base. The

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 are long and spread from the base and the five petals are white, long and also spread from the base. Flowering mostly occurs in April and May and the fruit is a rounded capsule in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Bursaria reevesii'' was first formally described in 1999 by Lindy W. Cayzer,

Michael Crisp Michael Douglas Crisp (born 1950) is an emeritus professor in the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University located in Canberra. In 1976 he gained a PhD from the University of Adelaide, studying long-term vegetation chan ...

and Ian Telford in the journal ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...

'' from specimens collected by

Paul Irwin Forster Paul Irwin Forster (born 1961) is an Australian botanist. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Queensland in 2004 with his thesis ''The pursuit of plants : studies on the systematics, ecology and chemistry of the vascular flora of A ...

in the

Port Curtis Port Curtis is a suburb of Rockhampton in the Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Port Curtis had a population of 281 people. Geography The Fitzroy River bounds the suburb to the north-east. Gavial Creek, a tributary of th ...

district. The specific epithet (''reevesii'') honours Roger D. Reeves of New Zealand, for his work on the flora of

serpentinite Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''se ...

areas.

Distribution and habitat

This bursaria is only known from a few areas of serpentinite in the Marlborough area of Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15591310 reevesii Pittosporaceae Plants described in 1999 Flora of Queensland