''Hibbertia aspera'', commonly known as rough guinea flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an ascending or erect shrub with low-lying or scrambling branches, oblong to lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow flowers with four to six

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s in a single group, joined at the base.

Description

''Hibbertia aspera'' is an ascending or erect shrub up to high with low-lying or scrambling branches long. The leaves are oblong to lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, long, long and sessile or on a petiole up to long. The flowers are arranged singly, sometimes in groups of two or three, on the ends of short side branches, on peduncles long with a linear

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

long. The five sepals are oblong to egg-shaped, long, the inner lobes slightly longer than the outer ones. The petals are yellow, long and there are four to six stamens joined at their lower half, in a single group. There are two

carpels Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

each containing two ovules. Flowering mainly occurs from September to December.

Taxonomy

''Hibbertia aspera'' was first formally described in 1817 by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in ''Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale'' from specimens collected by George Caley. 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 ...

(''aspera'') means "rough to the touch". In 1998, Hellmut R. Toelken described two subspecies in the '' Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens'', and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census: *''H. aspera'' DC. subsp. ''aspera''; *''H.aspera'' subsp. ''pilosifolia'' Toelken has star-like hairs with fewer branches than those on the autonym. The type specimen of this subspecies was collected on the Atherton Tablelands.

Distribution and habitat

Rough guinea flower grows on sandy or gravelly soils in woodland, open forest and heath in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. In New South Wales it mainly occurs in coastal areas and in Victoria is restricted to Gippsland. Subspecies ''pilosifolia'' does not occur in Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5750639 aspera Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Victoria (state) Plants described in 1817 Taxa named by Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle