''Persoonia laxa'' is an extinct 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 the Sydney region in eastern Australia. It was only known from two specimens, the holotype found in

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

in 1907, and the other specimen collected in Manly the following year, with no individuals being found since. It was declared extinct by the ''Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' in 2000 and by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

in 2020.

Description

''Persoonia laxa'' grew as a spreading or prostrate shrub with smooth bark. The flat leaves were 8–15 mm long and 1–1.8 mm wide and linear in shape. The leaf margins were recurved. The new growth is covered in sparse hairs. ''P. laxa'' is described as auxotelic, which means each stalk bears an individual flower that is subtended by a leaf at its junction with the stem. Known as

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

, these smooth and measure 6–8 mm in length. The flowers occur in groups of one to three. Each individual flower consists of a cylindrical

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla (petals) or tepals when ...

, consisting of

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 fused for most of their length, within which are both male and female parts. The tepals are long and smooth on the outside. The central

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

is surrounded by the

anther 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 ...

, which splits into four segments; these curl back and resemble a cross when viewed from above. Because of limited observation prior to its extinction, little is known about its flowering and fruit.

Taxonomy

Two specimens of ''P. laxa'' were collected in what are now Sydney's

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

—one from

in November 1907 and the other from Manly in June 1908. The genus was reviewed by Peter Weston for the ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

'' treatment in 1995, and ''P. laxa'' was placed 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, A third specimen, collected in 1922 from Dee Why, appears to be intermediate between (and is possibly a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

of) ''P. laxa'' and '' P. levis''.

Distribution and habitat

Occurring in Newport and Manly in central-eastern N.S.W, ''P. laxa'' was thought to have been a component of heath or dry sclerophyll eucalypt woodland or forest on sandstone soils, or possibly in sandy soils on the coast. ''P. laxa'' grew at an altitude of 0–20 m with an annual rainfall of 1200–1400 mm.

Extinction

''Persoonia laxa'' is listed as

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

on the

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biologi ...

and under the Australian

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

(EPBC Act). The reasons are unknown, though the area in which it was found has become very urbanised, causing the clearance of its habitat for land development, likely resulting in the species' demise.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18075371 Flora of New South Wales laxa Plants described in 1991