Baeckea latifolia
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{speciesbox
|name =
|image = Baeckea latifolia.jpg
|image_caption = In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
|genus = Baeckea
|species = latifolia
|authority = (Benth.) A.R.Bean{{cite web |title=Baeckea latifolia |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/159945 |website=Australian Plant Census |access-date=27 January 2022}}
|synonyms =
- Baeckea gunniana var. latifolia Benth.
- Baeckea utilis var. latifolia (Benth.) J.H.Willis
}}
Baeckea latifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a shrub with broadly elliptic leaves and small white flowers with six to eight stamens.
Description
Baeckea latifolia is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|1–3|m}} and has arching branches. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|6–9|mm}} long and {{cvt|2–6|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1.2–1.5|mm}} long. The flowers are about {{cvt|6|mm}} in diameter and are borne singly in leaf axils, each flower on a pedicel about {{cvt|3|mm}} long. The sepals are oblong, {{cvt|1.2–1.4|mm}} long and the petals are white, more or less round and {{cvt|2.7–3.0|mm}} long. There are six to eight stamens in groups of up to three, the ovary has two locules and the style is about {{cvt|1.5|mm}} long. Flowering occurs in January and February and the fruit is a cylindrical capsule {{cvt|3.0–3.8|mm}} long.{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Peter G. |title=Baeckea latifolia |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Baeckea~latifolia |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney |access-date=27 January 2022}}{{Cite journal|last=Bean|first=Anthony|date=1997|title=A revision of Baeckea (Myrtaceae) in eastern Australia, Malesia and south-east Asia|journal=Telopea|volume=7|issue=3|pages=263–264|doi=10.7751/telopea19971018|issn=0312-9764|doi-access=free}}{{cite web |last1=Stajsic |first1=Val |title=Baeckea latifolia |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/74601cb4-dc6e-461d-b6e2-adb893f48a43 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=27 January 2022}}
Taxonomy
This baeckea was first formally described in 1867 by George Bentham who gave it the name Baeckea gunniana var. latifolia in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected by Ferdinand von Mueller in "Baw-Baw Mountains.{{cite web|title=Baeckea gunniana var. latifolia|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/533414|publisher=APNI|access-date=27 January 2022}}{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |last2=von Mueller |first2=Ferdinand |title=Flora Australiensis |volume=3 |date=1867 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |page=79 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/41807#page/87/mode/1up |access-date=27 January 2022}} In 1997, Anthony Bean raised the variety to species status as Baeckea latifolia in the journal Telopea.{{cite web|title=Baeckea latifolia|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/560645|publisher=APNI|access-date=27 January 2022}} The specific epithet (latifolia) means "broad-leaved".{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=236 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
Baeckea latifolia grows in the edges of snow gum woodlands and in grassland at altitudes above {{cvt|1300|m}} in eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q15401187}}
Category:Flora of New South Wales
Category:Flora of Victoria (state)