''Leionema microphyllum'', commonly known as limestone phebalium, is a small shrub with terminal clusters of white-pink flowers in spring. It is a rare plant in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Description

''Leionema microphyllum'' is a small shrub to high with

terete Terete is a term in botany used to describe a cross section that is circular, or like a distorted circle, with a single surface wrapping around it.Lichen Vocabulary, Lichens of North America Information, Sylvia and Stephen Sharnoff/ref> This is u ...

branchlets that are covered with tiny star-shaped hairs or sometimes smooth. The stiff, leathery leaves are egg-shaped to broader egg-shaped, long, wide with an apex almost heart-shaped or pointed to rounded, occasionally smooth or with minute star-shaped hairs with flat, smooth margins. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

is a cluster of 1-4 flowers at the end of branches in upper leaf axils. The white to pink petals are narrowly egg-shaped, about long and smooth, stamens almost length of the petals. The

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

are long, fleshy, triangular-shaped lobes are about long and smooth. The dry fruit are smooth, about high and the surface finely corrugated with a rounded apex. Flowering occurs in spring.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1855 by Ferdinand von Mueller and gave it the name ''Eriostemon microphyllus''. In 1998 Paul G. Wilson changed the name to ''Leionema microphyllum'' and the name change was published in the journal

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

. The specific epithet ''(microphyllum)'' is from the Greek ''microphyllus'', ''micro''- meaning "small" and -''phyllus'' meaning "leaved".

Distribution and habitat

This species has a restricted distribution in Victoria growing in heathland in the Natimuk district, but unknown in the area since 1962, and found near

Lake Hindmarsh Lake Hindmarsh, an ephemeral lake located in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia, is the state's largest natural freshwater lake. The nearest towns are Jeparit to the south and Rainbow to the north. After more than a decade of dro ...

in 2014. In South Australia it is found in the southern

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named af ...

district.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15394110 microphyllum Sapindales of Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of South Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller