''Persoonia rigida'', commonly known as the rigid-, hairy- or stiff 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 an erect to low-lying shrub with hairy young branchlets, lance-shaped to spatula-shaped leaves that are hairy when young, and yellow flowers borne in groups of up to twenty 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 continues to grow after flowering.

Description

''Persoonia rigida'' is an erect to low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of and has branches and leaves that are hairy when young. The leaves are lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, to spatula-shaped, long and wide with the edges curving downwards. The flowers are arranged in groups of up to twenty on a rachis up to long that continues to grow after flowering, each flower on a

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 with a leaf at its base. 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, long and hairy on the outside but with a

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 ...

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. ...

. Flowering occurs from November to March. The proportion of flowers going on to develop fruit appears to be unusually high in ''P. rigida'' compared with other members of the genus.

Taxonomy

Collected by

George Caley George Caley (10 June 1770 – 23 May 1829) was an English botanist and explorer, active in Australia for the majority of his career. Early life Caley was born in Craven, Yorkshire, England, the son of a horse-dealer. He was educated at the F ...

in 1804, ''P. rigida'' was first formally described in 1830 by Scottish botanist Robert Brown in the '' Supplementum'' to his ''

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 ...

''. 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. rigida'' 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

Rigid geebung is found from the

Liverpool Range The Liverpool Range is a mountain range and a lava-field province in New South Wales, Australia. The eastern peaks of the range were the traditional territory of the Wonnarua people. Geography The Liverpool Range starts from the volcanic plate ...

in central New South Wales southwards into mid-western Victoria. It occurs on the inland (north and west) side of the Great Dividing Range, but extends eastwards to Springwood in the Lower Blue Mountains at altitudes between . It grows in sandstone-based or rocky soils in dry sclerophyll forest or heathland. It has been known to hybridise with the prickly geebung ('' P. juniperina'') and '' P. sericea''. Associated tree species in Victoria include ''

Eucalyptus macrorhyncha ''Eucalyptus macrorhyncha'', commonly known as the red stringybark, is a species of medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has rough, stringy, grey to brown bark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of between se ...

'' and ''

Eucalyptus polyanthemos ''Eucalyptus polyanthemos'', commonly known as red box, is a species of small to medium-sized tree, that is native to eastern Australia but has been introduced into other countries. It has fibrous bark on the trunk and larger branches, smooth gr ...

''.

Use in horticulture

''Persoonia rigida'' was cultivated in England in 1824 but is seldom seen in gardens now, and has little horticultural appeal.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7170731 rigida Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of the Australian Capital Territory Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) Plants described in 1830