Haemodorum ''Haemodorum'' is a genus of herbs in the family Haemodoraceae, first described as a genus in 1798 by James Edward Smiith.Haemodoraceae Haemodoraceae is a family of perennial herbaceous flowering plants with 14 genera and 102 known species. It is sometimes known as the "bloodwort family". Primarily a Southern Hemisphere family, they are found in South Africa, Australia and New ...

, native to northern Australia. It has deep-red to purplish-black flowers which are seen from September to December, and it grows on red clay and basalt.

Etymology

The name, ''

Haemodorum ''Haemodorum'' is a genus of herbs in the family Haemodoraceae, first described as a genus in 1798 by James Edward Smiith.Smith in 1798 for the blood-red root, ''haem-'' being Greek for blood-red.

Mueller Mueller may refer to: People * Mueller (surname), a surname German in origin Places Antarctica * Mount Mueller (Antarctica) Australia * Mueller College, in Queensland * Mount Mueller (Victoria) *Mueller Park, in Western Australia * Mueller Rive ...

in 1858, gave this species the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

, ''brevicaule'', which derives from the Latin ''brevi-'' (short), and ''caulis'' (stem), giving the meaning 'short-stemmed'.

Description

It has flat, hairless, leaves about 9 to 31 cm long and 0.5 to 2 mm wide, and a smooth scape about 9 cm to 13 cm long. The perianth is formed of two rings of three tepals which are uniformly red, red-brown, purple or black. It has three stamens all at the same level with the filaments being 1 to 1.2 mm long and having slightly longer anthers. The plant flowers from September to December.

Distribution

It is found in

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 ...

, the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the

IBRA The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was devel ...

regions of the

Northern Kimberley The Northern Kimberley, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia,Victoria Bonaparte, Arnhem Coast, Darwin Coastal,

Northern Kimberley The Northern Kimberley, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia,Pine Creek,

Central Arnhem The Central Arnhem, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, ...

Tiwi Cobourg Tiwi Cobourg is an interim Australian bioregion located in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It has an area of , which includes the Cobourg Peninsula of Arnhem Land, Croker Island, and the Tiwi Islands. The bioregion is part o ...

, Arnhem Plateau,

Gulf Coastal The Gulf Coastal, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,IBR ...

, Daly Basin, the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

region in open eucalypt forest in dry sandy soils, and also in places that are seasonally flooded.

Taxonomy

'' H. brevicaule'' was first described by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in 1858. This description was slightly modified in 1987 by Macfarlane. The syntype is held in the National Herbarium of Victoria and was collected by

in 1855 towards the Macadam range in the Victoria-Daly region of the Northern Territory.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15341955 brevicaule Flora of the Northern Territory Angiosperms of Western Australia Flora of Queensland Haemodoraceae Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller