Commersonia borealis

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2024}} {{Speciesbox | genus = Commersonia | species = borealis | authority = (E.Pritz.) C.F.Wilkins & Whitlock<ref name=APC>{{cite web|title=''Commersonia borealis''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/230728|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref> | range_map = Commersonia borealis map.png | range_map_alt = | range_map_caption = Map showing distribution of ''Commersonia borealis'' in Australia | synonyms = * ''Ruelingia malvifolia'' var. ''borealis'' E.Pritz. orth. var. * ''Rulingia borealis'' (E.Pritz.) C.F.Wilkins * ''Rulingia cygnorum'' var. ''borealis'' Blackall & Grieve nom. inval. * ''Rulingia malvifolia'' var. ''borealis'' E.Pritz. | synonyms_ref=<ref name="APC" /> }}

'''''Commersonia borealis''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a low growing, spreading shrub with egg-shaped to oblong leaves, and white, yellow and cream-coloured flowers.

==Description== ''Commersonia borealis'' is a low growing, spreading shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|0.3–1.5|m}} high and {{cvt|0.5–1.5|m}} wide and has scattered star-shaped hairs on its new growth. The leaves are egg-shaped to oblong, {{cvt|10–40|mm}} long and {{cvt|7–20|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1–5|mm}} long with narrowly lance-shaped stipules up to {{cvt|6|mm}} long at the base. The edges of the leaves have rounded lobes and are rolled under, the lower surface densely covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in clusters of 7 to 12 opposite leaf axils and are white to cream-coloured and {{cvt|6–12|mm}} in diameter, the groups on a hairy peduncle {{cvt|2–8|mm}} long, each flower on hairy pedicel {{cvt|2–6|mm}} long. The flowers have five white, petal-like sepals up to {{cvt|7|mm}} long, five egg-shaped, creamy-yellow petals {{cvt|4–5|mm}} long with a yellowish ligule about the same length as the sepals, and a single white staminode. Flowering occurs from July to November and the fruit is a capsule {{cvt|5–9|mm}} long and densely-covered with white, star-shaped hairs.<ref name="Blake">{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Trevor L. |title=Lantern bushes of Australia; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide |date=2021 |publisher=Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group |location=Victoria |isbn=9780646839301 |pages=168–169}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== This species was first described in 1904 by Ernst Georg Pritzel who gave it the name ''Rulingia malvifolia'' var. ''borealis'' in ''Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie''.<ref name=APNI1>{{cite web|title=''Rulingia malvifolia'' var. ''borealis''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/532351 |publisher=APNI|access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref><ref name="E.Pritz.">{{cite journal |last1=Pritzel |first1=Ernst Georg |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae occidentalis. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Pflanzen Westaustraliens, ihrer Verbreitung und ihrer Lebensverhaltnisse |journal=Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie |date=1904 |volume=35 |issue=2–3 |page=368 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/126840#page/398/mode/1up |access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref> In 2005, Carolyn Wilkins raised the variety to species rank as ''Rulingia borealis'' in the journal ''Nuytsia''<ref name=APNI2>{{cite web|title=''Rulingia borealis''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/602509 |publisher=APNI|access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref><ref name="Nuytsia">{{cite journal |last1=Wilkins |first1=Carolyn F. |title=''Rulingia borealis'', a new combination based on ''R. malvifolia'' var. ''borealis'' (Malvaceae s.l. or Sterculiaceae). |journal=Nuytsia |date=2005 |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=518–521 |doi=10.58828/nuy00429 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/306660#page/194/mode/1up |access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref> and in 2011 she and Barbara Ann Whitlock transferred the species to the genus ''Commersonia'', resulting in the name, ''Commersonia borealis''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Commersonia borealis''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/726722 |publisher=APNI|access-date=12 March 2023}}</ref> The specific epithet (''borealis'') means "northern", referring to the distribution of this species.<ref name="Nuytsia" /><ref name="Sharr">{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=148 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat== ''Commersonia borealis'' grows in limy sand or loam over limestone in near-coastal shrubland, open woodland or heath between Shark Bay and Seabird north of Perth and on Dirk Hartog Island in the Geraldton Sandplains, Swan Coastal Plain and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.<ref name="Nuytsia" /><ref name=FB>{{FloraBase|name=''Commersonia borealis''|id=40872}}</ref>

==Conservation status== ''Commersonia borealis'' is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.<ref name="FB" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

borealis Category:Endemic flora of Western Australia Category:Rosids of Western Australia Category:Plants described in 1904 Category:Taxa named by Ernst Pritzel