| Homoranthus tropicus | |
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| Homoranthus tropicus in the Australian National Botanic Gardens | |
Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Homoranthus |
| Species: | H. tropicus |
| Binomial name | |
| Homoranthus tropicus Byrnes | |
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| Occurrence data from AVH | |
Homoranthus tropicus is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to tropical north Queensland. It is a shrub with curved, club-shaped leaves and white flowers in a corymb-like arrangement on the ends of branchlets.
Description
Homoranthus tropicus is a shrub to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) high. The leaves are arranged opposite, club-shaped, curved, shortly pointed and tapering at the base to a short petiole 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long, 0.5 mm (0.020 in) wide and marked with tiny dots. The white flowers are on a pedicel 0.5–1.5 mm (0.020–0.059 in) long, the small bracts 1–1.5 mm (0.039–0.059 in) long, keeled and ending in a short point. The calyx tube, distinctly angled and up to 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long, lobes 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long. The petals are broadly egg-shaped to almost round, margins smooth, about 2 mm (0.079 in) long and the style up to 7 mm (0.28 in) long. Flowering occurs sporadically throughout the year, primarily February to July and the fruit is a single seed retained in the calyx.
Taxonomy and naming
Homoranthus tropicus was first formally described in 1981 by Norman Byrnes from a specimen he collected north of Laura in 1975 and the description was published in Austrolbaileya. The specific epithet (tropicus) means "tropical".
Distribution and habitat
This species grows in northern Queensland in heath or shrubby woodland on shallow rocky soils over sandstone.
Conservation status
It has a restricted distribution and considered rare by Briggs and Leigh (1996) given a ROTAP conservation code of 2R.
References
- "Homoranthus tropicus". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
- ^ Byrnes, Norman (1981). "Homoranthus tropicus". Austrobaileya. 1 (4): 375. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
- ^ Copeland, Lachlan M.; Craven, Lyn A.; Bruhl, Jeremy J. (2011). "A taxonomic review of Homoranthus (Myrtaceae:Chamelaucieae)". Australian Systematic Botany. 24 (6): 371. doi:10.1071/SB11015.
- "Homoranthus tropicus". APNI. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
- Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings. Kardinya, Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 329. ISBN 9780958034180.
External links
| Taxon identifiers | |
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| Homoranthus tropicus | |