''Persoonia juniperina'', commonly known as prickly geebung,
is a species of flowering plant in the family
Proteaceae
The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...
and 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 south-eastern Australia. It is a small erect to low-lying shrub with smooth bark, hairy new branches, linear leaves, yellow flowers borne singly or in groups of up to forty in leaf axils, and yellowish green to purplish fruit.
Description
''Persoonia juniperina'' is an erect to low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of with smooth bark and hairy young branchlets. The leaves are linear, long and wide. The flowers are borne singly or in groups of up to forty on a
rachis
In biology, a rachis (from the grc, ῥάχις [], "backbone, spine") is a main axis or "shaft".
In zoology and microbiology
In vertebrates, ''rachis'' can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this c ...
up to long that grows into a leafy shoot after flowering, each flower on a hairy
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. The
tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s are yellow, sometimes hairy on the outside, long with yellow
anthers
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 filam ...
. Flowering occurs from December to February and the fruit is an oval, yellowish green to purplish
drupe
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...
about long and wide.
Taxonomy
''Persoonia juniperina'' was first formally described in 1805 by French naturalist
Jacques Labillardière
Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the Jean-François de Galaup, comte ...
in his book ''
Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen
''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2)
The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...
'' from specimens collected in Tasmania.
Four varieties of ''P. juniperina'' are accepted by the
Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...
as at October 2020:
* ''Persoonia juniperina'' var. ''brevifolia''
Meisn.
Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist.
Biography
Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...
;
* ''Persoonia juniperina''
Labill. var. ''juniperina'';
* ''Persoonia juniperina'' var. ''mollis''
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of larg ...
;
* ''Persoonia juniperina'' var. ''ulicina''
Meisn.
Within the genus ''
Persoonia
''Persoonia'', commonly known as geebungs or snottygobbles, is a genus of about one hundred species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Persoonia'' are shrubs or small trees usually with smooth bark, simple leav ...
'', ''P. juniperina'' is classified in the lanceolata group, a group of 54 closely related species with similar flowers but very different foliage. These species will often interbreed with each other where two members of the group occur.
Distribution and habitat
''Persoonia juniperina'' is found across Tasmania and from
Green Cape
Green Cape is a locality situated on the eponymous headland or cape on the far south coast of New South Wales. It is located at 37° 15' S 150° 03' E, within Beowa National Park, south of Eden, New South Wales. The headland forms the northern ...
on the New South Wales far south coast, south through Victoria and into southeastern South Australia as far west as Adelaide. The habitat is sclerophyll forest and heath to an altitude of .
Ecology
A field study manipulating pollination showed ''P. juniperina'' was partly self-compatible but cross-pollination led to greater fruit production.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7170715
juniperina
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Victoria (state)
Flora of Tasmania
Flora of South Australia
Plants described in 1805
Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière