Hibbertia obtusifolia

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Hoary Guinea Flower

Conservation status: Least Concern (except in Tasmania)

• Presumed extinct in Tasmania under the Tasmanian Government Threatened Species Protection Act 1995

Etymology:   

• The name Hibbertia honours George Hibbert, a patron of botany and slave trader

• The specific epithet (obtusifolia) means "blunt leaved"

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are arranged on the ends of branches or short side shoots and are sessile with two or three bracts 2.8–3.6 mm long at the base

• The sepals are 4.8–8.5 mm (0.19–0.33 in) long and of unequal lengths

• The petals are mid to pale yellow, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, and 6.6–16 mm long

• There are thirty or more stamens arranged around three glabrous carpels

• Flowering occurs from September to December

Fruit:                         

Leaves:         

• The leaves are lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, 6–45 mm long and 1.5–14 mm wide with a rounded or truncated end

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An erect shrub with spreading branches up to 60 cm long that are hairy when young

Habitat:   

• Forest and woodland

Distribution:                  

• Hoary guinea flower is widespread and locally common in south-east Queensland, all but the far west of SW, the ACT and in mainly eastern Victoria

• There is a single record from Clarke Island in Bass Strait in 1892, but recent surveys have not located the species and it is presumed extinct in that state

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Hibbertia obtusifolia was first formally described in 1817 by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale from specimens collected by George Caley

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibbertia_obtusifolia (2024)