''Centrolepis aristata'', commonly known as pointed centrolepis, is a species of plant in the

Restionaceae The Restionaceae, also called restiads and restios, are a family of flowering plants native to the Southern Hemisphere; they vary from a few centimeters to 3 meters in height. Following the APG IV (2016): the family now includes the former famil ...

family and is found in areas of southern Australia.

Description

The annual herb has a tufted habit and typically grows to a height of . It is a bright green colour becoming reddish after it flowers. The shiny, glabrous, thin, pointed leaves are typically in length with a width of . It flowers between August and December. The flower heads have a flattened oblong-ovoid shape and are around wide. the flowers have a brown base and two long opposite primary bracts. Between 6-22 flowers form in a terminal cluster, the flowers have a brown to yellowish colour. Brown ovoid fruit follow that contain small soft seeds. The seeds are fusiform and long.

Classification

The species was first formally described by the botanist Robert Brown and then by

Johann Jacob Roemer Johann Jacob Roemer (8 January 1763, Zurich – 15 January 1819) was a physician and professor of botany in Zurich, Switzerland. He was also an entomologist. With Austrian botanist Joseph August Schultes, he published the 16th edition of Ca ...

and

Josef August Schultes Josef (Joseph) August Schultes (15 April 1773 in Vienna – 21 April 1831 in Landshut) was an Austrian botanist and professor from Vienna. Together with Johann Jacob Roemer (1763–1819), he published the 16th edition of Linnaeus' ''System ...

in 1817 in the work ''Systema Vegetabilium''.

Distribution

It is found among rocky outcrops and in winter wet depressions in the

Mid West The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

, Wheatbelt,

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

, Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it grows in damp sandy-clay-loam soils over

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 under ...

. In South Australia it is found along much of the south coast, all of the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...

and

Yorke Peninsula The Yorke Peninsula is a peninsula located northwest and west of Adelaide in South Australia, between Spencer Gulf on the west and Gulf St Vincent on the east. The peninsula is separated from Kangaroo Island to the south by Investigator Str ...

, through all of the south east and as far north as the

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...

. The plant is also found in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15511741 aristata Plants described in 1817 Flora of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of Tasmania Flora of New South Wales Poales of Australia