Cryptandra ciliata
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Speciesbox
|image =
|genus = Cryptandra
|species = ciliata
|status_system =
|status =
|authority = A.R.Bean{{cite web |title=Cryptandra ciliata |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/192139 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=23 October 2022}}
}}
Cryptandra ciliata is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Queensland. It is a shrub with clustered linear leaves and densely-hairy, white, tube-shaped flowers.
Description
Cryptandra ciliata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|50|cm}}, its branchlets hairy at first but soon glabrous. Its leaves are linear and clustered, mostly {{cvt|1.7–2.6|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.4–0.5|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|0.1–0.2|mm}} long, with stipules {{cvt|1.3–1.8|mm}} long at the base. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous and the edges are rolled under, usually obscuring most of the lower surface. The flowers are white and borne singly in leaf axils, sometimes forming clusters of up to 10 near the ends of branchlets, each flower with 7 to 10 bracts at the base. The floral tube is {{cvt|0.7–1.2|mm}} long, the sepals {{cvt|1.5–2.2|mm}} long and densely covered with both simple and star-shaped hairs. The petals are {{cvt|0.7–0.8|mm}} long, forming a hood over the stamens {{cvt|0.5–0.7|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from May to August, and the fruit is brown and {{cvt|2.7–3.0|mm}} long.{{cite journal |last1=Bean |first1=Anthony R. |title=New species of Cryptandra Sm. and Stenanthemum Reissek (Rhamnaceae) from northern Australia. |journal=Austrobaileya |date=2004 |volume=6 |issue=4 |page=928 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41739069 |access-date=23 October 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Kellermann |first1=Jürgen |last2=Udovicic |first2=Frank |title=A revision of the Cryptandra propinqua complex (Rhamnaceae: Pomaderreae). |journal=Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales |date=2007 |volume=128 |page=97 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/110727#page/373/mode/1up |access-date=23 October 2022}}
Taxonomy and naming
Cryptandra ciliata was first formally described in 2004 by Anthony Bean in the journal Austrobaileya from specimens collected near Cracow by [https://www.anbg.gov.au/biography/forster-paul-irwin.html Paul Irwin Forster] in 1990.{{cite web|title=Cryptandra ciliata|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/591254|publisher=APNI|accessdate=23 October 2022}} The specific epithet (ciliata) means "fringed with fine hairs", referring to the bracts.
Distribution and habitat
This cryptandra grows in woodland on sandstone ridges and slopes from the Barakula State Forest to near Theodore in south-east Queensland.