''Leionema rotundifolium'', is a dense shrub with needle-shaped stems and pale lemon to white terminal flowers. It is found in New South Wales and Queensland.

Description

''Leionema rotundifolium'' is a bushy, thick 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 us ...

stems and finely covered in star-shaped hairs. The smooth leaves are flat, leathery and more or less in an overlapping formation along the stems, broadly egg-shaped to almost circular, long, wide, edges smooth or minutely irregular near the rounded apex. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a rounded cluster of flowers on a short stem in the uppermost leaves or

bracts 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 ...

. The calyx is shaped like an inverted cone, smooth and broadly triangular shaped. The white to lemon petals are long and dotted with glands. The dry, spreading fruit is long with a short beak. Flowering occurs from late winter to spring.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described by Allan Cunningham and he gave it the name ''Eriostemon rotundifolius'' but did not publish the description. In 1837

Stephen Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Bio ...

published Cunninghams description. In 1998

Paul G. Wilson Paul Graham Wilson (born 1928) is an Australian botanist. He has been a most prolific contributor to the journal ''Nuytsia (journal), Nuytsia'', contributing to the first issue in 1970 and to the 12th volume in 1998, which was dedicated to him f ...

changed the name to ''Leionema rotundifolium'' and published the description in

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 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Leionema rotundifolium'' is found growing in the Torrington and Howell districts of north-eastern New South Wales and near

Glen Aplin A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...

area of south-east

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

on granite outcrops.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15393035 rotundifolium Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher