''Ricinocarpos pinifolius'', commonly known as wedding bush, is a shrub of the family Euphorbiaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has fragrant daisy-like flowers in spring.

Description

''Ricinocarpos pinifolius'' is a small shrub high and wide with smooth branches. The smooth leaves are narrow, wide, long and the leaf margin may be either rolled downwards or backwards on a petiole about long. The clusters of flowers are in leaf axils, usually 3-6 male and 1 female flower. The

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

long,

sepals A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

long and the usually white petals long, egg-shaped and the stamens yellow. The

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

are long and almost as long as the petals. The seed capsule is roughly spherical shaped, about in diameter and thickly covered with spines.

Taxonomy and naming

''Ricinocarpos pinifolius'' was first formally described in 1817 by René Louiche Desfontaines and the description was published in ''Memoires du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle''. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''pinifolius'') is from the Latin words ''pinus'' meaning "pine" and ''folium'' meaning "leaf".

Distribution and habitat

The wedding bush is found in sandy soils in heath and open forests mostly in coastal locations in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7331162 Crotonoideae Malpighiales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Garden plants