Amperea xiphoclada
Citation:
Druce, Rep. Botl Soc. Exch. Club Br. Isl. 1916:604 (1917).
Synonymy: Leptomeria xiphoclada Sieber ex Sprengel, Syst. Veg. 4, 2:109 (1827); A. spartioides Brongn. in Duperrey, Voy. la Coquille 226, t. 49 (?1834).
Common name: Broom spurge.
Description:
Monoecious or almost dioecious; base hard, woody; stems erect, occasionally procumbent, 20-60 cm tall, 3-angled or compressed and furrowed, greyish, glabrous, almost leafless when flowering; the lower leaves on the stem cuneate-oblong, margins often toothed, 5-15 mm long, the upper ones linear-lanceolate, entire, usually less than 1 cm long; stipules small, deeply fringed, reddish-brown.
Flowers lateral, subsessile, few in small sessile clusters in the axils of small distant scales, surrounded by ovate 1-2 mm long brown more or less deeply fringed bracts; male calyx c. 2 mm long, 4- or 5lobed; stamens 6-9, free; the anther-cells distinct and divergent, the connective gland-tipped; the female often solitary among several males, calyx c. 3 mm long, campanulate, the 5 lobes triangular, subacute, with hyaline margins; ovary crowned by 6 acute dorsal teeth or appendages, glabrous; styles short, brown-red, papillate.
Capsule 2-4 mm long; seed ovoid, 1.5-2.5 mm long, shiny, black.
Published illustration:
Maiden & Baker (1894) Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. n.s. 8, 2:t. 15, fig. 1 as A. spartioides; Pax & Hoffmann (1931) Natürlichen pflanzenfamilien 19c, fig. 123 as A. spartioides.
Distribution:
|
Usually in damp places, not common but widespread.
Qld; N.S.W.; Vic .; Tas.
|
Conservation status:
native
Flowering time: all year around but mostly Oct. — Nov.
|
SA Distribution Map based
on current data relating to
specimens held in the
State Herbarium of South Australia
|
Biology:
No text
Author:
Not yet available
|