''Commersonia borealis'' is a species of

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

native to

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 ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described as ''Rulingia malvifolia'' var. ''borealis'' in 1904 by

Ernst Georg Pritzel Ernst Georg Pritzel (15 May 1875 – 6 April 1946) was a German botanist. He is known for his research in the fields of phytogeography and taxonomy. He contributed works on Lycopodiaceae, Psilotaceae and Pittosporaceae to Engler & Prantl’s "Die ...

It was raised to species rank in 2005 by Carolyn Wilkins, giving the name, ''Rulingia borealis'', and in 2011 she and

Barbara Ann Whitlock Barbara Ann Whitlock (born 1967) is a botanist, who earned a Ph.D. from Harvard University, with her dissertation ''Systematics and evolution of chocolate and its relatives (Sterculiaceae or Malvaceae s.l.)'' , an interest which continues. She ...

transferred the species to the genus '' Commersonia'', resulting in the name, ''Commersonia borealis''.

Etymology

The specific epithet, ''borealis'', is from the Latin ''borealis'' ("north"), and refers to the northern distribution of this former variety in comparison to the more southerly distribution of ''R. malvifolia'' (now ''Commersonia cygnorum'').

References

borealis Borealis (Latin for ''northern'' or ''of the north'') may refer to: Astronomy * Borealis Basin or North Polar Basin, a basin on the planet Mars * Borealis quadrangle, an area on the planet Mercury ** Borealis Planitia, a basin within the quadran ...

Endemic flora of Western Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1904 Taxa named by Ernst Pritzel {{Byttnerioideae-stub