Micrantheum hexandrum

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Box Micrantheum

Conservation status: . . .

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet (hexandrum) means "six stamens"

Flowers

• Male flowers are borne on a peduncle about 8 mm long

• The sepals egg-shaped and 1–3 mm long, and have six or nine stamens

• Female flowers are more or less sessile, the sepals lance-shaped to egg-shaped and 3–5 mm long 

• Flowering mostly occurs from October to February

Fruit:                            

• An oval to spherical capsule 6–7 mm long

Leaves:         

• The leaves are oblong to narrowly lance-shaped or lance-shaped

• The narrower end is towards the base

• 8–15 mm long and 2–3 mm wide with a small point on the tip

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An erect, monoecious shrub 

• More or less glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of about 2 m

Habitat:   

• Grows on rocky sites and near watercourses, often at higher altitudes

Distribution:                  

• From south-eastern Queensland, along the coast and tablelands of NSW to scattered places in eastern Victoria and to eastern Tasmania

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Micrantheum hexandrum was first formally described in 1847 by Joseph Dalton Hooker in the London Journal of Botany 

  • Specimens were collected near Launceston

Sources of information:

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