''Persoonia laurina'', commonly known as the laurel-leaved or laurel geebung, is a shrub of 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 ...

native to central

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

in eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Found in

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaf, leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is paral ...

forest, it grows to a height of . The yellow flowers appear in late spring.

Taxonomy

''Persoonia laurina'' was one of five species described by

Christiaan Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1 February 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a German mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, the third child of an immig ...

in his 1805 work ''Synopsis Plantarum'', from material collected by John White in 1793 and 1794. The species name refers to a resemblance to ''Laurus'' "laurel".

James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to: * James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society * James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer * James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto * ...

described this species as the rusty persoonia (''Persoonia ferruginea'') in his 1805 book ''Exotic Botany''. The horticulturist Joseph Knight used Smith's name in his controversial 1809 work ''

On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae ''On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae'' is an 1809 paper on the family Proteaceae of flowering plants. Although nominally written by Joseph Knight as a paper on cultivation techniques, all but 13 pages con ...

'', as did Robert Brown in his 1810 work ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

''. Brown also recognised that the two names were the same species. In 1870,

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

published the first infrageneric arrangement of ''

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 ...

'' in Volume 5 of his landmark ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

''. He divided the genus into three

sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

, placing ''P. ferruginea'' in ''P.'' sect. ''Amblyanthera''. Within the genus, ''P. laurina'' is classified in the ''Laurina'' group, a group of three species from southeastern Australia that all have a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. Three subspecies are recognised. First recorded as distinct in 1981, they were officially described as subspecies in 1991 by

Lawrie Johnson Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson FAA, (26 June 1925 – 1 August 1997) known as Lawrie Johnson, was an Australian taxonomic botanist. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney, for the whole of his professional career, as a botanist (1948� ...

and Peter Weston of the New South Wales Herbarium.

Description

''Persoonia laurina'' grows as a shrub with an upright or sprawling

habit A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

reaching anywhere from tall. New growth is covered with dense grey to rusty-brown hairs. Flowering takes place over November to January. Seedlings have only two

cotyledon A cotyledon (; ; ; , gen. (), ) is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant, and is defined as "the embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first to appear from a germinating seed." The numb ...

leaves, unlike many members of the genus, which have more.

Ecology

All three subspecies resprout after bushfire from a woody lignotuber. Subspecies ''laurina'' is estimated to have a lifespan of 50 to 100 years.

Uses and cultivation

The bark was traditionally used by Aboriginal people to soak fishing lines and toughen them. Drupes were eaten by indigenous people on the

Beecroft Peninsula Beecroft Peninsula is the northern headland of Jervis Bay, on Australia's east coast. On the western and southern sides of the peninsula steep sandstone cliffs rise out of the ocean, up to 91 metres at its southernmost point, Point Perpendicular. W ...

, though were not as highly regarded as those of '' P. lanceolata''. ''P. laurina'' is an attractive plant with

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

potential. Cultivating it would most likely require good water drainage, a position in sun or dappled shade and

acidic soil Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or basicity (alkalinity) of a soil. Soil pH is a key characteristic that can be used to make informative analysis both qualitative and quantitatively regarding soil characteristics. pH is defined as the neg ...

. It is

hardy Hardy may refer to: People * Hardy (surname) * Hardy (given name) * Hardy (singer), American singer-songwriter Places Antarctica * Mount Hardy, Enderby Land * Hardy Cove, Greenwich Island * Hardy Rocks, Biscoe Islands Australia * Hardy, Sout ...

to frosts. However, it appears to be short-lived in cultivation, with plants at the Mount Annan Botanic Gardens surviving for a maximum of six years after planting out. While difficult to

propagate Propagation can refer to: *Chain propagation in a chemical reaction mechanism *Crack propagation, the growth of a crack during the fracture of materials *Propaganda, non-objective information used to further an agenda *Reproduction, and other forms ...

by seed, it has been easier to propagate by cuttings of new growth.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7170718 laurina Flora of New South Wales Proteales of Australia Plants described in 1805