''Hibbertia'', commonly known as guinea flowers,
is a genus of flowering plants in the family
Dilleniaceae
Dilleniaceae is a family of flowering plants with 11 genera and about 430 known species. Such a family has been universally recognized by taxonomists. It is known to gardeners for the genus ''Hibbertia'', which contains many commercially valuabl ...
. They are usually shrubs with simple leaves and usually yellow flowers with five
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 and five
petals. There are about 400 species, most of which occur in Australia but a few species occur in New Guinea, New Caledonia, Fiji and
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
.
Description
Plants in the genus ''Hibbertia'' are usually shrubs, rarely climbers, and often form mats. Their leaves are usually arranged alternately along the stems, usually
sessile
Sessility, or sessile, may refer to:
* Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about
* Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant
* Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...
, clustered on short side-branches, and have smooth, rarely toothed or lobed edges. The flowers are usually arranged singly in leaf axils or on the ends of stems and have five sepals, two "outer" sepals slightly overlapping the three "inner" ones. There are five yellow, rarely orange, petals and the
stamens are usually arranged in three to five groups, sometimes on only one side of the
carpels. There are between two and five carpels, usually free from each other, each containing up to six
ovule
In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the '' integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the ...
s and with a
style
Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to:
* Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable
* Design, the process of creating something
* Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...
on the top. The fruit is a
follicle containing seeds, usually with an
aril.
Taxonomy and naming
The genus ''Hibbertia'' was first formally described in 1800 by
Henry Cranke Andrews
Henry Cranke Andrews (fl. 1794 – 1830), was an English botanist, botanical artist and engraver. As he always published as Henry C. Andrews, and due to difficulty finding records, the C. was often referred to as Charles, until a record of his ...
in his book ''The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants'' and the first species he described was ''H. volubilis'', now known as ''
H. scandens''.
The name ''Hibbertia'' honours
George Hibbert
George Hibbert (13 January 1757 – 8 October 1837) was an English merchant, politician, slave-owner, ship-owner, amateur botanist and book collector. With Robert Milligan, he was also one of the principals of the West India Dock Company which ...
, a patrony of botany.
The common name, guinea flower reflects the resemblance of the flowers to the colour and shape of the
guinea coin.
Species list
See
List of ''Hibbertia'' species
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2709465
Eudicot genera
Taxa named by Henry Cranke Andrews