''Muniria angustisepala'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the mint

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

and is endemic to the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. It is an erect shrub with softly hairy, warty leaves and pale yellow, woolly flowers.

Description

''Muniria angustisepala'' is shrub which grows to a height of about and has branches that have four corners in cross-section and are densely hairy. The leaves are elliptic to lance-shaped, long, wide, softly hairy, have a wrinkled, blistered upper surface. The leaf stalk is a further long. The flowers are solitary in groups of up to three 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 on a short, sticky, hairy stalk. There are sticky, hairy

bract 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 ...

s and

bracteoles 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 ...

at the base of the flower. The five

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 long and joined at their bases to form a short tube. The sepals are linear to narrow lance-shaped, sticky and hairy and ribbed on the outside. 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 are pale yellow, long and joined to form a tube long, sticky and slightly hairy on the outside but

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

on the inside except for a dense ring of hairs around the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

and a few hairs on the largest petal lobe. The petal lobes are broad egg-shaped and about long with the middle lower lobe the largest. The four

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 extend beyond the end of the tube, the lower pair longer than the upper ones. Flowering occurs from January to September and is followed by fruit which is oblong but with four distinct ridges and has the sepals attached.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1979 by Ahmad Abid Munir from a specimen collected near the UDP Falls (now Gunlom Falls). It was given the name ''Pityrodia angustisepala'' and the description was published in ''Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens''. In 2011,

Barry Conn Barry John Conn (Barry Conn, born 1948), is an Australian botanist. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Adelaide University in 1982 for work on ''Prostanthera''. Career Conn's first appointment as a botanist was with the Lae Herbarium in 1974. He ...

, Murray Henwood and Nicola Streiber described a new genus, ''

Muniria ''Muniria'' is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae and is endemic to the Northern Territory in Australia. Plants in this genus are woolly shrubs with five petals joined to form a tube-shaped flower with ...

'' and transferred this species to it. 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 ...

(''angustisepala'') is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

word ''angustus'' meaning "narrow" and the

New Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

''sepalum'' meaning "sepal".

Distribution

This species only occurs in northern parts of the Northern Territory, including in Kakadu ,

Limmen Limmen is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Castricum, and is situated about 9 km southwest of Alkmaar. Before 2002 it was a separate municipality. History Limmen has been mentioned in various ...

, and Nitmiluk National Parks in the

Arnhem Plateau The Arnhem Plateau, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory of Australia,Darwin Coastal The Darwin Coastal, an IBRA bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory of Australia.IBR ...

Gulf Coastal The Gulf Coastal, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory,IBR ...

Gulf Fall and Uplands The Gulf Fall and Uplands, an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory and Queensland,

and Pine Creek biogeographic regions.

Conservation

''Muniria angustisepala'' is classified as "least concern" under the '' Territory Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act''.

References

External links

''Muniria angustisepala'' occurrence data
from

Australasian Virtual Herbarium The ''Australasian Virtual Herbarium'' (AVH) is an online resource that allows access to plant specimen data held by various Australian and New Zealand herbaria. It is part of the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA), and was formed by the amalgamat ...

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q28184827 angustisepala Plants described in 1979 Flora of the Northern Territory