Lomatia polymorpha
Mountain guitar plant
Mountain guitar plant
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Basal Eudicots > Proteales > Proteaceae > Lomatia polymorpha
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Common name: Mountain guitar plant
Conservation status: Least concern
It is common throughout its range in Tasmania, which is approximately complementary to that of L. tinctoria
Etymology:
Lomatia: from Greek loma, a fringe, referring to the wing that surrounds the seed
Flowers:
The heads of flowers barely extend beyond the leaves and are white, cream or greenish-white in colour
Flowers appear between January and March
Fruit:
Dark grey to black and 20–30 mm long
Leaves:
It has simple leaves which are linear to narrow egg-shaped, 20–80 mm long, 2.5–10 mm wide
They have a stalk about 5 mm long and sometimes have a few lobes or teeth on the margins
The lower surface of the leaves is covered with rusty-coloured hairs and has a prominent mid-vein
Stem & branches:
The stems sometimes have a covering of matted hairs
Roots:
Habit:
A shrub or small tree
It grows to a height of between 2.5 and 4 m
Habitat:
Subalpine woodlands, lowland scrubby vegetation in wetter areas, occasionally in rainforest, from sea level to 1,200 m
Distribution:
Endemic to Tasmania
Common and widespread
Species found "approximately south of the Pieman River and west of the Derwent River"
Where the range overlaps with L. tinctoria, (as in the region of Lake St Clair), hybrids often occur
Additional notes:
Taxonomy and naming
Lomatia polymorpha was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London
Use in horticulture
A hardy species in cultivation, L. polymorpha
It can be grown readily from seeds or cuttings and grows well in most soils and aspects
Phytochemical profile
Lomatia polymorpha, was subjected to various natural products isolation methods by researchers at The University of Tasmania
Through their comprehensive study they found several different compounds distinct to Proteaceae and common throughout a variety of plants
Three different long chain alcohols were found, tetracosan-1-ol, hexacosan-1-ol and octacosan-1-ol as well as the flavanoids taxifolin and isoquercetin
Other molecules isolated include, 1-O-(p-Coumaroyl)-D-glucose and 1,2,4-trihydroxynaphthalene-1-O-glucoside (THNG)
Lomatia polymorpha was found to share several compounds in common with L. tasmanica and L. tinctoria
The three alcohols shared by the relatives is characteristic of the waxiness of their leaves and researchers found that the thinnest leaves between them, of L. polymorhpa, yields the least of these compounds
These non-polar compounds possibly reflect the epicuticular morphology of the species
Sources of information: