Spyridium nitidum
{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
| image =Spyridium nitidum.jpg
| image_caption = On Kangaroo Island
| genus = Spyridium
| species = nitidum
| authority = N.A.Wakef.{{cite web |title=Spyridium nitidum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/74834 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=24 August 2022}}
}}
Spyridium nitidum, commonly known as shining spyridium,{{cite web |last1=Walsh |first1=Neville G. |title=Spyridium nitidum |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/9222c4d5-b0a0-4fec-b773-e3cb51a8cef4 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=24 August 2022}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with narrowly elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and heads of hairy, woolly white flowers.
Description
Spyridium nitidum is an erect, spindly shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about {{cvt|2|m}}, its young stems silky-hairy. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic or narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|5–15|mm}} long and {{cvt|2–7|mm}} wide and petiolate. Both sides of the leaves are covered with silky hairs, and there are lance-shaped stipules {{cvt|1.5–3|mm}} long at the base. The flowers are white about {{cvt|5|mm}} in diameter, and borne in clusters {{cvt|2–3|mm}} in diameter on the ends of branchlets with a single creamy-white leaf and several sticky brown bracts at the base. The floral tube is {{cvt|1.5–2|mm}} long, the sepals about {{cvt|0.8|mm}} long. Flowering mainly occurs from July to October and the fruit is about {{cvt|2|mm}} long.{{cite web |title=Spyridium nitidum |url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&name=Spyridium_nitidum |publisher=State Herbarium of South Australia |access-date=24 August 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Wakefield |first1=Norman A. |title=Flora of Victoria: new species and other additions - 11. |journal=The Victorian Naturalist |date=1957 |volume=73 |issue=10 |page=166 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/127327#page/168/mode/1up |access-date=24 August 2022}}
Taxonomy
Spyridium nitidum was first formally described in 1957 by Norman Arthur Wakefield in The Victorian Naturalist.{{cite web |title=Spyridium nitidum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/456686 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |accessdate=24 August 2022}} The specific epithet (nitidum) means "shining".{{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 |edition=3rd|page=261}}
Distribution
Shining spyridium grows in south-eastern South Australia, including on the Eyre Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, and in the Big Desert area of Victoria, near the border with South Australia.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from= Q17243564}}
Category:Flora of South Australia
Category:Flora of Victoria (state)