''Leionema hillebrandii'', commonly known as Mount Lofty phebalium, is a perennial, woody shrub endemic to South Australia. It has variable shaped leaves and pinkish flowers from late winter to spring.

Description

''Leionema hillebrandii'' is a small straggly, perennial shrub to high with smooth greenish-brown to red, thin, terete branchlets sparsely covered with star shaped hairs. The edges of the leaves are rolled under, dark green, silky, heart shaped to wedge-shaped, narrowing at the base or egg-shaped to wedge-shaped or oblong, long, wide with smooth margins. The leaves may be squared with a point or rounded at the apex or acute with two lobes, rounded with a shallow notch, papery, smooth texture or rough with short hard protrusions on the upper surface. The inflorescence is cluster of up to 16 pinkish flowers on a thin

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long. The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

lobes triangular shaped, about high and occasional star-shaped hairs. The petals are smooth, spreading, narrowly oval-shaped, long and pink toward the tip. The stamens are more or less equal in length to the petals and the

anthers 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 filam ...

pink. The fruit is a light brown, 2-4 segmented egg-shaped capsule, long, rounded at the apex with a beak. Flowering occurs from August to October.

Taxonomy and naming

Mount Lofty phebalium was described in 1957 as ''Phebalium hillebrandii'' by J.H Willis, but the name was changed to ''Leionema hillebrandii'' in 1998 by Paul G. Wilson and the description was published in the journal Nuytsia. 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 ...

(''hillebrandii'') was named in honour of Dr. Wilhelm Hillebrand a friend of Baron von Mueller.

Distribution and habitat

This species is found along rocky waterways from Mount Lofty to Tanunda in South Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15393587 hillebrandii Sapindales of Australia Flora of South Australia