Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos |
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| Inflorescence and foliage of A. cuneatus (Coastal Jugflower), the type species of A. sect. Adenanthos | |
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Adenanthos Labill. sect. Adenanthos
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29 species; see text |
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Adenanthos sect. Stenolaema Benth. |
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Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos is a special group, or taxonomic section, of flowering plants. These plants belong to the genus Adenanthos, which is part of the Proteaceae family. There are 29 different species within this group. Most of these plants are found in the southwest part of Western Australia. A couple of species also grow further east in South Australia and western Victoria.
Contents
What These Plants Look Like
This group of plants has some unique features. Their flowers have a part called a perianth, which is usually straight. The perianth is like the outer leaves of the flower. All four stamens, which are the parts that produce pollen, are able to create seeds. The end of the style, which is the part that receives pollen, is thin and shaped like a cone or a cylinder.
How They Were Named and Classified
Early Discoveries and Naming
The Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos group was first described by a botanist named George Bentham. He wrote about it in 1870 in his important book, Flora Australiensis. He originally called this group Adenanthos sect. Stenolaema. Bentham noted several key features of these plants. These included their straight perianth and the fact that all four stamens were fertile. At that time, his group included 12 different species.
Changing the Name
Bentham didn't pick a specific "type species" for his group at first. However, in 1978, another botanist, Ernest Charles Nelson, formally chose a type species. This was A. obovatus, which is also the type species for the entire Adenanthos genus. Because of modern rules for naming plants, if a section contains the genus's type species, it must share the same name as the genus. So, the name Adenanthos sect. Stenolaema was changed to Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos. The old name is now considered a synonym.
Later Revisions
In 1978, Ernest Charles Nelson published a big study of all Adenanthos plants. He kept the Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos group as it was, but by then, it included 29 species. He even tried to divide this section into two smaller groups, called subsections. However, he later decided not to use these smaller groups in his 1995 work for the Flora of Australia book series.
Today, the Adenanthos genus is divided into two main sections:
- A. sect. Eurylaema (which has 4 species)
- A. sect. Adenanthos (which has 29 species)
Where These Plants Live
Most of the 29 species in this group, about 27 of them, are found only in the southwest part of Western Australia. One species, A. macropodianus, grows only on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Another species, A. terminalis, can be found from the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia all the way to western Victoria.
See also
In Spanish: Adenanthos sect. Adenanthos para niños
