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Bertya pedicellata

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bertya pedicellata
Isotype in the Queensland Herbarium
NT (NCA)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Bertya
Species:
B. pedicellata
Binomial name
Bertya pedicellata
Occurrence data from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium
Synonyms[1]
  • Bertya glabrescens (C.T.White) Guymer
  • Bertya oleifolia var. glabrescens C.T.White

Bertya pedicellata is a species of flowering plant in the family Euphorbiaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a shrub with many branches, linear leaves, separate male and female flowers, male flowers with 55 to 70 stamens, female flowers with a sparsely hairy ovary, and narrowly elliptic capsules usually with a single seed.

Description

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Bertya pedicellata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 6 m (20 ft) and has many branches covered with white, star-shaped hairs, and most parts of the plant sticky. The leaves are linear to elliptic or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 40–92 mm (1.6–3.6 in) long and 3–10 mm (0.12–0.39 in) wide, the edges of the leaves curved downwards or sometimes rolled under. The flowers are more or less sessile or on a peduncle up to 6 mm (0.24 in) long. The male flowers are 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long with 55 to 70 stamens. Each female flowers is on a pedicel 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) long and has narrowly egg-shaped sepals and an ovary usually with scattered star-shaped hairs, or sometimes glabrous. Flowering occurs from March to November and the fruit is narrowly elliptic or narrowly oval, 8.5–11.3 mm (0.33–0.44 in) long, usually with a single seed.[2][3]

Taxonomy

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Bertya pedicellata was first formally described in 1864 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected near Rockhampton by Anthelme Thozet.[4][5] The specific epithet (pedicellata) means 'pedicellate'.[6]

Distribution and habitat

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This species of Bertya grows on skeletal soils on rocky hillsides in forest, woodland, shrubland, heathland and vine thickets, mainly between Aramac, Rockhampton and Biggenden in Queensland.[2]

Conservation status

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Bertya pedicellata is listed as "near threatened" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Bertya pedicellata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  2. ^ a b Halford, David A. Moon, Christina D.; Orchard, Anthony E. (eds.). "Bertya pedicellata". Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Species profile—Bertya pedicellata". Queensland Government, Department of Education and Science. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  4. ^ "Beryta pedicellata". Australian Plant Name Index. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  5. ^ von Mueller, Ferdinand (1864). Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer. pp. 143–144. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
  6. ^ George, Alex; Sharr, Francis (2021). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 273. ISBN 9780958034180.