Cryptandra pungens is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect, slender, spiny shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.2–1 m (7.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) with many short branches ending with thin spines. Its leaves mostly in bundles and are 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long. The flowers are white, each on a pedicel 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long with minute, overlapping brown bracts at the base. The sepals are about 1.6 mm (0.063 in) long and joined at the base to form a broadly bell-shaped tube, with lobes half as long as the tube. Flowering occurs from May to November.[2][3] The species was first formally described in 1845 by Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae from specimens collected in sandy forest near Perth.[4][5] The specific epithet (pungens) means "ending in a sharp, hard point".[6]
| Cryptandra pungens | |
|---|---|
| |
| In Wongan Hills | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Rosales |
| Family: | Rhamnaceae |
| Genus: | Cryptandra |
| Species: | C. pungens
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cryptandra pungens | |
Cryptandra pungens grows on coastal limestone, granite outcrops, sandplains and hills in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia. It is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[3]
References
edit- ^ "Cryptandra pungens". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ Bentham, George (1863). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 1. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 443. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Cryptandra pungens". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Cryptandra pungens". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ von Steudel, Ernst G. (1845). Lehmann, Johann G.C.; Preiss, Ludwig (eds.). Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali. Hamburg: Sumptibus Meissneri. p. 187. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
- ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 287. ISBN 9780958034180.