Leionema phylicifolium

Leionema phylicifolium is a compact shrub to {{cvt|1.5|m}} high, branchlets are more or less needle-shaped with star to upright shaped soft hairs. The leathery, smooth leaves are oblong to elliptic shaped or narrow with recurved edges, {{cvt|8-17|mm}} long, {{cvt|1.5-2.5|mm}} wide and smooth margins. The inflorescence is a cluster of mostly 3-4 flowers in a cylindrical arrangement at the end of branches on a small stalk or a peduncle to {{cvt|4|mm}} long in leaf axils. The flower cluster is on a more or less fleshy, smooth pedicel {{cvt|1-3|mm}} long and has tiny egg-shaped bracts. The smooth calyx lobes are triangular shaped, {{cvt|0.5|mm}} and smooth. The petals are narrowly elliptic, spreading, {{cvt|3.5-4|mm}} long and pale yellow and stamens marginally longer than petals. The dry fruit has occasional hairs, rounded at the apex, about {{cvt|3|mm}} long and a very small beak.{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Paul G. |title=Flora of Australia-Volume 26 Meliaceae, Rutaceae, Zygophyllaceae |date=1999 |publisher=ABRS-Department of Environment & Heritage |location=Canberra/Melbourne |isbn=9780643109551 |pages=435}}{{cite web |title=Leionema phylicifolium |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/c223c0d4-534f-4d88-b655-0a6972101146 |website=VICFLORA-Flora of Victoria online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |accessdate=30 June 2020}}

The species was first formally described by Victorian Government Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller who had observed the species "on the highest peaks of the Cobboras Mountains, and on the sources of the Mitta Mitta." Mueller named it Phebalium phylicifolium and the description was published in Transactions and Proceedings of the Victorian Institute for the Advancement of Science.{{cite web |title=Description of fifty new Australian plants, chiefly from the colony of Victoria |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/148456#page/46/mode/1up |website=Biodiversity Heritage Library |accessdate=30 June 2020}}{{cite web |title=Phebalium phylicifolium |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/500154 |website=Australian Plant Name Index |accessdate=30 June 2020}} In 1998 Paul G. Wilson changed the name to Leionema phylicifolium and the name change was published in the journal Nuytsia.{{cite web |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/cgi-bin/apni?TAXON_NAME=Leionema+phylicifolium |title=Leionema phylicifolium |accessdate=13 March 2012 |work= Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database|publisher = Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra}}{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Paul G. |title=New species and nomenclatural changes in Phebalium and related genera (Rutaceae). |journal=Nuytsia |date=1998 |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=276 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/226456#page/122/mode/1up |accessdate=29 June 2020}}

Alpine phebalium is found growing at higher altitudes in eastern Victoria in scrubland, eucalypt woodland and heath, mostly in wetter locations. It also occurs in New South Wales in the extreme south-east of the state in the Kosciuszko National Park and south from the upper Tuross River in dry sclerophyll forest and heath.{{cite web |title=Leionema phylicifolium |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Leionema%20phylicifolium |website=Flora of Australia-online |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. |accessdate=30 June 2020}}

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• {{cite web |title=Leionema phylicifolium (F.Muell.) Paul G.Wilson |work=Atlas of Living Australia |url=https://bie.ala.org.au/species/http://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2912113}}

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phylicifolium

Category:Sapindales of Australia

Category:Flora of New South Wales

Category:Flora of Victoria (state)

Category:Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller