''Nematolepis ovatifolia'', is a small shrub with rusty coloured scales on the stems, smooth, glossy leaves and white flowers in small clusters in summer. It 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 New South Wales.

Description

''Nematolepis ovatifolia'' is a small, dense shrub with more or less angled to terete stems covered in light rust coloured scales and sparsely dotted with warty glands. The leaves are wide egg-shaped to broadly elliptic, long, wide, margins mostly flat, upper surface dotted with glands, underside silvery scales. 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 ...

s are a small, tight cluster of 1-3 white flowers, petals about long, pink in bud, dotted with glands, individual flowers and cluster stems thick, flattened and together long. The

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 ...

oblong to egg-shaped, long,

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 almost upright, triangular shape and long. The dry, erect' seed capsule is more or less square, about long with a short rounded point. Flowering occurs in summer.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

in 1855 and gave it the name ''Phebalium ovatifolium'' and the description published in ''Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants''. 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 ''Nematolepis ovatifolia'' 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 ...

Distribution and habitat

''Nematolepis ovatifolia'' grows in low woodland on granite ridges in the alpine regions of the

Kosciuszko National Park The Kosciuszko National Park () is a national park and contains mainland Australia's highest peak, Mount Kosciuszko, for which it is named, and Cabramurra, the highest town in Australia. Its borders contain a mix of rugged mountains and wildern ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15393904 Flora of New South Wales ovatifolia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller