''Leptospermum arachnoides'', commonly known as the spidery tea-tree,Les Robinson – Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, page 52 is a species of shrub that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to eastern Australia. It has rough bark, crowded linear to lance-shaped leaves with a sharp point on the end, white flowers and hairy fruit.

Description

''Leptospermum arachnoides'' is a slender, spreading shrub that typically grows to high and wide and has rough, peeling, flaky bark. The leaves are linear to lance-shaped or elliptical, mostly long, wide, concave in cross-section, with a sharp point on the end and on a very short but broad petiole. The flowers are borne singly in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s and are in diameter with a hairy

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

about long. The

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 coined b ...

s are about long and hairy, the

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s about long and white, the

stamen 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 filame ...

s are about long. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is a hairy capsule in diameter.

Taxonomy and naming

''Leptospermum arachnoides'' was first formally described in 1788 by

Joseph Gaertner Joseph Gaertner (12 March 1732 – 14 July 1791) was a German botanist, best known for his work on seeds, ''De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'' (1788-1792). Biography He was born in Calw, and studied in Göttingen under Albrecht von Haller. ...

in his book ''

De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum ''De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum'', also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Fruct. Sem. Pl.'', is a three-volume botanic treatise by Joseph Gaertner. The first volume was published in December 1788. The second volume was published ...

''. 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 ...

(‘’arachnoides’’) is derived from Latin, meaning "resembling a spider".

Distribution and habitat

Spidery tea-tree grows in moist heath and sclerophyll forest, usually on shallow soils derived from

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. It occurs between south-east Queensland and the

Tinderry Range Tinderry is a locality in the Snowy Monaro Region, New South Wales, Australia. It lies to the east of Michelago Michelago is a village in the Monaro region of New South Wales, Australia. The village is in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council l ...

in New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15368856

arachnoides ''Arachnoides'' is a genus of sea urchin within the family (biology), family Clypeasteridae, found in the Indo-Pacific oceans. The base is flat and the upper surface is convex. If you are looking for a ''fern'' genus, its name is Arachniodes. S ...

Myrtales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1788