''Verticordia cunninghamii'', commonly known as tree featherflower or liandu, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

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 an area in the extreme north of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. It is a spindly shrub or small tree with narrow leaves and cream to white, sweetly scented, feathery flowers.

Description

''Verticordia cunninghamii'' is a spindly to bushy, openly branched shrub or tree which grows to a height of up to and which has one to a few thick woody trunks at the base. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the branches and are linear in shape, roughly round or three-sided in cross section, long, have a pointed tip and prominent oil glands. The flowers are sweetly scented and arranged in rounded groups on stalks long. The

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

is shaped like half a sphere, long,

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

and slightly rough. 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 are cream-coloured, long, with 2 hairy lobes. The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are cream-coloured to white, egg-shaped, long, joined for about of that length and have uneven teeth around their top edge. The

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

is long, straight with hairs just below its tip. Flowering time is mainly from July to October, although it may vary, depending on rainfall.

Taxonomy and naming

''Verticordia cunninghamii'' was first formally described by

Johannes Conrad Schauer Johannes Conrad Schauer (16 February 1813 – 24 October 1848) was a botanist interested in Spermatophytes. He was born in Frankfurt am Main and attended the gymnasium of Mainz from 1825 to 1837. For the next three years he worked at the Hofgar ...

in 1843 and the description was published in ''Monographia Myrtacearum Xerocarpicarum''. 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 ...

(''cunninghamii'') honours Allan Cunningham, who gathered the type collection at Roe River in the Kimberley region on the 14 December 1820. ''Verticordia cunninghamii'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

for ''Verticordia'' sect. ''Tropica''. This

section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sign ...

includes two other outlying species of an otherwise West Australian genus, '' V. verticillata'' and '' V. decussata''.

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia has a widespread distribution in the north of Western Australia, including the Kimberley and in northern regions of the

, including in

Kakadu National Park Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded liv ...

. The species is usually associated with areas of seasonal flooding and watercourses, or along creeks, and has a preference for loam or gravel at exposed sandstone, growing in the white, or grey, or red sands there.

Conservation

''Verticordia cunninghamii'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

Use in horticulture

''Verticordia cunninghamii'' is a difficult plant to propagate and grow in cultivation and its requirements are not yet fully understood.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7922895 cunninghamii Flora of the Northern Territory Rosids of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1843