Hibbertia depressa is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to the far south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate or sprawling shrub with spreading, usually densely clustered, linear leaves and yellow flowers arranged singly or clustered among the leaves.

Hibbertia depressa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Dilleniales
Family: Dilleniaceae
Genus: Hibbertia
Species:
H. depressa
Binomial name
Hibbertia depressa
Synonyms[1]
Habit near Mount Barker

Description edit

Hibbertia depressa is a prostrate or sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 30 cm (12 in) with hairy young branches. The leaves are clustered near the ends of branches, linear, mostly 5–25 mm (0.20–0.98 in) long and 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) wide and more or less sessile. The flowers are arranged singly or clustered among the clustered leaves and are 8–11 mm (0.31–0.43 in) in diameter. There are up to three brown, egg-shaped bracts 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) long. The five sepals are joined at the base, the sepal lobes elliptic to egg-shaped, the outer sepal lobes 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) wide and the inner lobes 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) wide. The five petals are yellow, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 3.5–6 mm (0.14–0.24 in) long and there are fifteen stamens in five groups of three arranged around the five glabrous carpels each with a single ovule. Flowering has been recorded from September to February.[2][3]

Taxonomy edit

Hibbertia depressa was first formally described by the botanist Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel in 1845 in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae.[4][5] The specific epithet (depressa) means "pressed down", referring to the low habit of the plant.[6]

Distribution and habitat edit

This hibbertia commonly grows in jarrah woodland, sometimes in coastal shrubland and is found between the Kent River, Nanarup and Mount Barker in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest and Warren biogeographic regions in the far south-west of Western Australia.[2][3]

Conservation status edit

Hibbertia depressa is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.[3]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Hibbertia depressa". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b Wheeler, Judith R. (2002). "A revision of Hibbertia depressa and its allies (Dilleniaceae) from Western Australia" (PDF). Nuytsia. 15 (1): 128–131. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Hibbertia depressa". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ^ "Hibbertia depressa". APNI. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  5. ^ von Steudel, Ernst G. (1845). Lehmann, Johann (ed.). Plantae Preissianae. Hamburg. p. 268. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
  6. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 181. ISBN 9780958034180.