''Spyridium montanum'' 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 ...

to the

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

in the south of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with elliptic or egg-shaped leaves, and groups of up to ten densely hairy, white or cream-coloured flowers.

Description

''Spyridium montanum'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of , its young stems densely covered with white and rust-coloured hairs. Its leaves are elliptic or egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The edges of the leaves turn down and the upper surface is densely hairy. The flowers are white or cream-coloured and borne in groups of 10 or more wide. The floral tube is long; the

sepal 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 ...

s long and both are covered with white, star-shaped hairs. Flowering occurs from April to July and in October.

Taxonomy

''Spyridium montanum'' was first formally described in 1995 by

Barbara Lynette Rye Barbara Lynette Rye is an Australian botanist born in 1952. Barbara Rye has been associated with the Western Australian Herbarium, where her work as a taxonomist has been the source of many new descriptions of plants. The number of taxa recorded ...

in the ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens collected by

Alex George Alexander or Alex George may refer to: *Alex George (botanist) (born 1939), Australian botanist * Alexander L. George (1920–2006), American political scientist * Alexander George (philosopher), American philosopher *Alex George (motorcyclist), Sc ...

near the eastern end of the Stirling Range in 1970. 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 ...

(''montanum'') means "pertaining to a mountain".

Distribution

This spyridium is only known from the Stirling Range where it often grows in gullies on the higher parts of the mountains.

Conservation status

''Spyridium montanum'' is listed as " Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17242726 montanum Rosales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1995 Taxa named by Barbara Lynette Rye