Lomatia polymorpha

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Basal Eudicots > Proteales > Proteaceae > Lomatia  polymorpha

Other links:     

Plant  information

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

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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:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomatia_polymorpha (2023)