''Spyridium bifidum'', commonly known as forked spyridium, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...

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 ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. It is an erect shrub with densely softly-hairy young stems, wedge-shaped to linear leaves sometimes with a two-lobed tip, and densely woolly heads of white-velvety flowers.

Description

''Spyridium bifidum'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to , its young stems densely covered with simple and star-shaped hairs. The leaves are wedge-shaped to linear, long and wide on a petiole long. The edges of the leaves are rolled under, the tip is sometimes forked with two lobes, both surfaces are covered with soft, star-shaped hairs, and there are triangular to narrowly egg-shaped

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s at the base. The more or less spherical heads of "flowers" are wide, the individual flowers more or less

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

and silky-hairy. Each head is surrounded by 4 or 5 velvety, white leaves, each more or less divided into two. The fruit is a light brown capsule long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1855 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

who gave it the name ''Trymalium bifidum'' in his ''Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants''. In 1863,

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 ...

changed the name to ''Spyridium bifidum'' in ''

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 ...

''. 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 ...

(''bifidum'') refers to the forked leaves of this species. In 2012, Jürgen Kellermann and

William Robert Barker William (Bill) Robert Barker is an Honorary Research Associate of the State Herbarium of South Australia. He is a former Chief Botanist of the State Herbarium. With Robyn Mary Barker and Laurence Haegi he had a particular interest in ''Hakea'' in ...

described two subspecies of ''Spyridium bifidum'' in the journal '' Muelleria'' and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Spyridium bifidum'' (F.Muell.) F.Muell. ex Benth. subsp. ''bifidum'' has wedge-shaped to heart-shaped leaves with a Y-shaped tip; * ''Spyridium bifidum'' subsp. ''wanillae'' Kellermann & W.R.Barker has narrowly lance-shaped to narrowly oblong or linear leaves that are rarely forked at the tip.

Distribution and habitat

''Spyridium bifidum'' grows in mallee shrubland on the

Marble Range The Marble Range is a small mountain range adjoining the Fraser River on the southwestern edge of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. It has an area of 1,250 square kilometres and about 65 km NNW to SSE and about 20 km wide. Its ...

and on the hills to the east of

Edillilie Edillilie is a small town on Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is on the Tod Highway and Eyre Peninsula Railway north of Port Lincoln. The town was named after Edillilie Creek. The railway station was originally named Mortlock Siding. It s ...

, the two subspecies separated by only . Subspecies ''bifidum'' is restricted to the Marble Range, and flowers from June to September, subspecies ''wanillae'' is mostly found around Wanilla on the

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

, and flowers in July.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q17240951, from2=Q100497063, from3=Q66105049 bifidum Rosales of Australia Flora of South Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1855