Philotheca brevifolia facts for kids

Philotheca brevifolia is a special kind of flowering plant. It belongs to the Rutaceae family, which also includes citrus fruits. This plant is found only in a small part of south-western New South Wales, Australia. It's a spreading shrub with unique leaves and pretty white to pink flowers.

What it Looks Like

Philotheca brevifolia is a shrub that spreads out. It can grow up to 2 meters (about 6.5 feet) tall. Its small branches have bumpy spots called glands.

The leaves are shaped like cylinders, almost like tiny tubes. They have a groove on their underside. These leaves are attached directly to the stem, meaning they don't have a stalk. They are about 2 to 4 millimeters long and also have bumpy glands.

The flowers grow at the ends of the branches. You might see them alone or in small groups of two to four. Each flower sits on a tiny stalk called a pedicel, which is about 1 to 3 millimeters long.

Each flower has five round sepals, which are small leaf-like parts, about 1 millimeter long. It also has five oval-shaped petals that are white or pink, about 5 millimeters long. Inside the flower, there are ten stamens. These are the parts that make pollen. They are separate from each other and have a noticeable tip on their anther.

This plant usually flowers in spring. After flowering, it produces a small, beaked fruit about 3 millimeters long.

How it Got its Name

This plant was first officially described in 1837. A botanist named Stephan Endlicher wrote about it. He used notes from another botanist, Allan Cunningham, who had first called it Eriostemon brevifolius.

Endlicher published his description in a book about plants from Australia. The first plant samples, called "type specimens," were collected by Cunningham. He found them in June 1817 on "barren ground at the base of Peel's Range" in New South Wales.

Later, in 1998, another botanist named Wilson changed the plant's name. He renamed it Philotheca brevifolia in a science journal called Nuysia.

Where it Grows

Philotheca brevifolia is a plant that is endemic to Australia. This means it grows naturally only in one specific place. It is found in a small area near Griffith in New South Wales. It usually grows in areas known as mallee, which are special types of woodlands and shrublands.