Philotheca myoporoides

''Philotheca myoporoides'', commonly known as long-leaf wax flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a shrub with sessile, oblong to egg-shaped, glandular-warty leaves and white to pink flowers arranged singly in leaf axils. Prior to 1998 it was known as ''Eriostemon myoporoides''.

Description

''Philotheca myoporoides'' is a species of shrub that typically grows to a height of . The leaves are sessile, oblong to broadly egg-shaped, glandular-warty, papery to leathery, long and wide with a prominent midrib. The flowers are arranged singly or in groups of up to eight, in leaf axils on a peduncle up to long, each flower on a pedicel long. The sepals are broadly triangular, about long and wide and the petals are white to pink, about long with a prominent keel. Flowering mainly occurs in spring and autumn and the fruit is about long with a beak about long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1824 by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who gave it the name ''Eriostemon myoporoides'' in his book ''Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''. In 1998 Michael James Bayly changed the name to ''Philotheca myoporoides'' in the journal '' Muelleria''.

In the same journal, Bayly described nine subspecies, four of which are accepted by the Australian Plant Census, and in 2001, Andrew Rozefelds described a fifth subspecies:
* ''Philotheca myoporoides'' subsp. ''acuta'' ( Blakely) Bayly has oblong-elliptic or egg-shaped leaves long and wide;
* ''Philotheca myoporoides'' subsp. ''brevipedunculata'' Bayly has oblong, elliptic or lance-shaped leaves long and wide;
* ''Philotheca myoporoides'' subsp. ''euroensis'' Bayly has broad elliptic leaves long and wide;
* ''Philotheca myoporoides'' (DC.) Bayly subsp. ''myoporoides'' has oblong-elliptic or lance-shaped leaves long and wide;
* ''Philotheca myoporoides'' subsp. ''petraea'' Rozefelds has leaves long and wide.

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies ''acuta'' grows on rocky sandstone hills from Lockhart to near Cobar. Subspecies ''brevipedunculata'' is found coastal areas to mountain summits between Sassafras and Moruya in south-eastern New South Wales. Subspecies ''euroensis'' grows among granite boulders on the Strathbogie Ranges near Euroa in north-eastern Victoria. Subspecies ''myoporoides'' grows in forest and heathland, usually near watercourses, mostly along the Great Dividing Range from the northern border of New South Wales to near Healesville in Victoria. Subspecies ''petraea'' is only known from rocky areas on Mount Stewart, west of Gelantipy in north-eastern Victoria.

Ecology

Caterpillars of the orchard butterfly feed on this species.

Use in horticulture

The species is well adapted to cultivation, and plants are commercially available at nurseries in Australia.
The species prefers a well-drained position in light shade. Established plants tolerate both dry periods and moderate frost. Plants may be propagated from semi-mature cuttings, though some forms are slow to take root.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q601139

myoporoides
Flora of New South Wales
Flora of Victoria (Australia)
Sapindales of Australia
Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle
Plants described in 1824