Leptospermum semibaccatum

Leptospermum semibaccatum is a species of low, dense shrub that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has egg-shaped to narrow elliptical leaves with a blunt tip, white or pink flowers and hairy, flat-topped fruit that falls from the plant shortly after the seeds are released. It grows in poorly-drained soil in coastal heath.

Leptospermum semibaccatum
In Broadwater National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Leptospermum
Species:
L. semibaccatum
Binomial name
Leptospermum semibaccatum
Synonyms[1]

Leptospermum grandiflorum var. minus S.Schauer

Description

Leptospermum semibaccatum is a low, dense shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5 m (1 ft 8 in), sometimes to 2 m (6 ft 7 in). It has thin, flaking bark, the young stems hairy, at least at first. The leaves are egg-shaped to narrow elliptical 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long and mostly 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) wide with a blunt tip and tapering at the base to a short petiole. The flowers are white or pink, mostly 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) wide and arranged singly or in pairs on a short side shoot. There are many reddish brown bracts at the base of the flower bud but which mostly fall off before the flower opens. The floral cup is silky-hairy, 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long, the sepals oblong and about 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long. The petals are 3.5–7 mm (0.14–0.28 in) long and the stamens 1.5–2 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs from August to October and the fruit is a flat-topped capsule 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) wide and hairy at first. The fruit are shed soon after the seeds are released.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

Leptospermum semibaccatum was first formally described in 1932 by Edwin Cheel in the Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, from specimens collected by C.T.White on Moreton Island.[4][5]

Distribution and habitat

This tea-tree grows in sandy soil in poorly drained coastal heath between Bundaberg in Queensland and Forster in New South Wales.[2][3]

References
  1. "Leptospermum semibaccatum". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  2. Thompson, Joy (1989). "A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae)". Telopea. 3 (3): 365–366.
  3. "Leptospermum semibaccatum". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  4. "Leptospermum semibaccatum". APNI. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  5. Cheel, Edwin (1932). "Notes on the Pericalymmae section of the genus Leptospermum (with descriptions of three new species)". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. 65: 203–204. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
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