''Leionema montanum'', is a small shrub with terminal clusters of white-pink flowers in upper leaf axils in spring. It is endemic to Tasmania.

Description

''Leionema montanum'' is a small, compact shrub with terete branchlets that grow horizontally along the ground. In between the old leaf bases are lines of star-shaped soft, erect hairs. The leaves are crowded, needle or club shaped, up to long and rounded. The upper-side more or less flat, the lower surface smooth and rounded. The single flowers are borne in leaf axils at the end of branches, flower petals spreading, about long, elliptic, white or pink, smooth and the stamens slightly longer than petals. The

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long, smooth or with occasional star-shaped soft hairs, fleshy, and enlarged below the sepals. The 2 or 3 bracteoles are near the triangular-shaped

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, are about long, fleshy, smooth and similar in appearance to sepals. The dry fruit are rounded at the apex with a short beak. Flowering occurs from November to January.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described by W.J.Hooker in 1834 and gave it the name ''Phebalium montanum''. In 1998 Paul G. Wilson changed the name to ''Leionema montanum'' and the change 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 ...

''(montanum)'' is derived from the Latin ''montanus'' meaning pertaining to a mountain.

Distribution and habitat

This species grows in mountainous situations in north-eastern Tasmania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15394336 montanum Sapindales of Australia Flora of Tasmania Taxa named by William Jackson Hooker