Seringia hookeriana | |
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In the Australian National Botanic Gardens | |
Scientific classification
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Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Genus: | Seringia |
Species: | S. hookeriana
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Binomial name | |
Seringia hookeriana | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Seringia hookeriana is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family and is endemic to Queenland. It is a compact suckering shrub with rusty-hairy new growth, oblong leaves and deep purple flowers arranged in groups of 2 to 4.
Seringia hookeriana is a compact, suckering shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–2 m (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in) and 0.5–1 m (1 ft 8 in – 3 ft 3 in) wide, its new growth densely covered with rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are oblong to lance-shaped, 15–65 mm (0.59–2.56 in) long and 5–18 mm (0.20–0.71 in) wide on a petiole 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) long with narrow stipules up to 6 mm (0.24 in) long at the base. The flowers are arranged in groups of 2 to 4 flowers on a linear peduncle 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long, each flower on 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) in diameter on a pedicel 3–9 mm (0.12–0.35 in) long. The flowers are deep purple, with broadly-lobed sepals tapering to a sharp point. The petals are absent or tiny, and the anthers are held on yellow filaments alternating with the staminodes. Flowering occurs in most months, and the fruit is a bristly capsule up to 20 mm (0.79 in) in diameter. [2]
This species was first formally described in 1851 by Wilhelm Gerhard Walpers who gave it the name Keraudrenia hookeriana in his Annales Botanices Systematicae. [3] [4] In 1860, Ferdinand von Mueller transferred the species to Seringia as S. hookeriana in his Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae. [5] [6] The specific epithet (hookeriana) honours Joseph Dalton Hooker. [2]
This species grows as an understorey shrub in rocky hills and ranges in central Queensland, from near Ingham to Gungal in New South Wales. [2]
Seringia hookeriana is listed as of "least concern" in Queensland by the Queensland Government Department of Environment and Science. [7]