''Spyridium leucopogon'', commonly known as silvery 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 to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is a small, slender shrub with narrowly linear leaves, and heads of woolly, white flowers.

Description

''Spyridium leucopogon'' is a small, slender shrub with more or less erect, sometimes crowded, narrowly linear leaves long and wide. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous, the edges of the leaves are rolled under obscuring the lower surface, and there is a small, down-turned point on the tip. The heads of "flowers" are wide and surrounded by two or three woolly-white floral leaves. Flowering occurs from September to February.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1858 by

Siegfried Reissek Siegfried Reissek (11 April 1819 in Teschen – 9 November 1871 in Vienna) was an Austrian naturalist and botanist who specialized in spermatophytes. He is known for his studies involving plant anatomy and histology. From 1837 to 1841 he was ...

who gave it the name ''Trymalium leucopogon'' in the journal ''Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde'' from an unpublished description by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 ...

. In 1875, von Mueller changed the name to ''Spyridium leucopogon'' in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''.

Distribution and habitat

''Spyridium leucopogon'' occurs on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241741

leucopogon ''Leucopogon'' is a genus of about 150-160 species of shrubs or small trees in the family Ericaceae, in the section of that family formerly treated as the separate family Epacridaceae. They are native to Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the ...

Rosales of Australia Flora of South Australia Plants described in 1858