Gaudium divaricatum

Gaudium divaricatum
In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Gaudium
Species:
G. divaricatum
Binomial name
Gaudium divaricatum
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]
  • Leptospermum divaricatum S.Schauer
  • Leptospermum trivalve Cheel

Gaudium divaricatum is a species of plant that is endemic to inland New South Wales. It is an erect or weeping shrub with compact fibrous bark, elliptical to egg-shaped leaves, white flowers arranged singly on short axillary side shoots and woody fruit that fall off when mature.

Description

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Gaudium divaricatum is an erect or weeping shrub with several stems and that typically grows to a height of 1–4 m (3 ft 3 in – 13 ft 1 in). It has rough, compact, fibrous bark on the older stems, the younger stems thin and covered with fine hairs. The leaves are elliptical to egg-shaped, mostly 2–7 mm (0.079–0.276 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide. The flowers are white, usually borne singly on short side branches, and are about 6–10 mm (0.24–0.39 in) in diameter. The floral cup is hairy on the lower part, about 2 mm (0.079 in) long on a pedicel 0.5–1.5 mm (0.020–0.059 in) long. The sepals are triangular, about 1 mm (0.039 in) long with a few hairs. The petals are 2.5–3.5 mm (0.098–0.138 in) long and the stamens are in bundles of between three and five and are about 1 mm (0.039 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs from August to October and the fruit is a woody capsule about 4 mm (0.16 in) in diameter that falls off when mature.[2][3]

Taxonomy

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This species was formally described in 1843 by Sebastian Schauer who gave it the name Leptospermum divaricatum in Walper's book Repertorium Botanices Systematicae.[4][5] In 2023, Peter Gordon Wilson transferred the species to the genus Gaudium as G. divaricatum in the journal Taxon.[1] The specific epithet (divaricatum) is a Latin word meaning "widely spreading" or "forked".[6]

Distribution and habitat

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Gaudium divaricatum grows in woodland and heath in mallee or on hillsides on the North West Slopes, Central Western Slopes and Western Plains of New South Wales, south from Nymagee.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Gaudium divaricatum". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Leptospermum divaricatum". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b Thompson, Joy (1989). "A revision of the genus Leptospermum (Myrtaceae)". Telopea. 3 (3): 386–387. doi:10.7751/telopea19894902.
  4. ^ "Leptospermum divaricatum". APNI. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  5. ^ Schauer, Sebastien; Walpers, Wilhelm G. (1843). Repertorium botanices systematicae. Leipzig: Sumtibus Friderici Hofmeister. p. 923. Retrieved 13 August 2024.
  6. ^ Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings. Kardinya, Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 185. ISBN 9780958034180.