Stylidium oviflorum
Encyclopedia
Stylidium oviflorum is a dicotyledon
Dicotyledon
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group...

ous plant
Plant
Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 that belongs to the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Stylidium (family Stylidiaceae
Stylidiaceae
The family Stylidiaceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It consists of five genera with over 240 species, most of which are endemic to Australia and New Zealand. Members of Stylidiaceae are typically grass-like herbs or small shrubs and can be perennials or annuals...

). The specific epithet oviflorum comes from the Latin ovi meaning egg and florus meaning flower, which refers to this species flower colouration that resembles a fried egg with bright yellow and pure white colours. It is an annual plant
Annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 that grows from 6 to 26 cm tall. The linear
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 or deltate leaves, about 3-11 per plant, are scattered along the stem and are generally 1.4-3 mm long and 0.25-0.6 mm wide. Petioles
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

 and scapes
Scape (botany)
In botany, scapes are leafless flowering stems that rise from the ground. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....

 are absent. Inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s are 4-15 cm long and produce white and yellow flowers that bloom from April to August in the southern hemisphere
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

. S. oviflorum is endemic to the northern area of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 from Mareeba
Mareeba, Queensland
Mareeba is a town on the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland, Australia. The town is above sea level on the confluence of the Barron River, Granite Creek and Emerald Creek. The town's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning meeting of the waters...

 and Wairuna west to Barwidgi. Its habitat is recorded as being sandy soils in seepage areas, on hillsides, or beside creeks in the company of Melaleuca viridiflora
Melaleuca viridiflora
Melaleuca viridiflora, known as broad-leaved paperbark, is a small tree native to woodlands, swamps and streams of monsoonal northern Australia and Papua New Guinea....

, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, or E. cullenii. S. oviflorum is most closely related to S. fissilobum
Stylidium fissilobum
Stylidium fissilobum is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus Stylidium . It is an annual plant that grows from 5 to 50 cm tall. Linear or deltate leaves, about 4-34 per plant, are scattered along the elongate, glabrous stem. The leaves are generally 1–6 mm long and...

but differs mostly in the corolla colour and self-supporting stems. Its conservation status
Conservation status
The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...

 has been assessed as data deficient
Data Deficient
Data Deficient is a category applied by the IUCN, other agencies, and individuals to a species when the available information is not sufficient for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made...

.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK