Chorizema aciculare, commonly known as needle-leaved chorizema,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a shrub with sharply-pointed leaves, the flower colour depending on subspecies.

Chorizema aciculare
Subspecies laxum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Chorizema
Species:
C. aciculare
Binomial name
Chorizema aciculare
Synonyms[1]
  • Chorizema aciculoides A.D.Chapm. orth. var.
  • Orthotropis pungens Lindl.
  • Podolobium aciculare DC.
Habit in the Wallaby Hills Nature Reserve near York

Description

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Chorizema aciculare is an erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.15–1.0 m (5.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in). The leaves are 8–28 mm (0.31–1.10 in) long with the edges rolled under, obscuring the lower surface in the case of subspecies aciculare. The flowers of subspecies aciculare are pink or orange, those of subsp. laxum usually pale yellow or orange.[2][3]

Taxonomy

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Needle-leaved chorizema was first formally described in 1825 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle who gave it the name Podolobium aciculare in Annales des Sciences Naturelles.[4][5] In 1930, Charles Gardner changed the name to Chorizema aciculare in his Enumeratio Plantarum Australiae Occidentalis.[6] The specific epithet (aciculare) means "needle-pointed", referring to the leaves.[7]

In 1992, Joan M. Taylor and Michael Crisp described two subspecies of C. aciculare in Australian Systematic Botany , and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

  • Chorizema aciculare (DC.) C.A.Gardner subsp. aciculare;[8]
  • Chorizema aciculare subsp. laxum J.M.Taylor & Crisp.[9]

Distribution and habitat

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Chorizema aciculare mostly grows in woodland or coastal kwongan on granite outcrops, undulating plains, ridges or on coastal dunes and is widespread from near Geraldton to Israelite Bay in the south-west of Western Australia.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Chorizema aciculare". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Chorizema aciculare". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. ^ a b Corrick, Margaret G.; Fuhrer, Bruce (2009). Wildflowers of southern Western Australia (3rd ed.). Kenthurst, N.S.W.: Rosenberg Pub. p. 58. ISBN 9781877058844.
  4. ^ "Podolobium aciculare". APNI. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  5. ^ de Candolle, Augustin P. (1825). "Notice sur quelques genres et speces nouvelles de legumineuses, extraite de divers Memoires presentes a la Societe d'Histoire naturelle de Geneve, pendant le cours des annees 1823 et 1824". Annales des Sciences Naturelles. 4: 98. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Chorizema aciculare". APNI. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  7. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 126. ISBN 9780958034180.
  8. ^ "Chorizema aciculare subsp. aciculare". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Chorizema aciculare subsp. laxum". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 October 2021.