Phebalium woombye

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Wallum Phebalium

Conservation status: ...

Etymology:   

Flowers

• The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in umbels of four to ten, each flower on a pedicel 4–15 mm long

• The calyx is top-shaped, about 3 mm long with teeth about half that length, covered with silvery to rust-coloured scales inside and out

• The petals are white to pink, egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, about 6 mm long, 2.5 mm wide and covered with rust-coloured scales on the back

• Flowering occurs from July to August

Fruit:                            

Leaves:         

• The leaves are oblong to elliptical, 15–60 mm long and 2–11 mm wide on a short petiole 

• The upper surface of the leaves is flat and glabrous, the lower surface with a prominent mid-vein and covered with silvery scales

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub that typically grows to a height of 2 m and has branchlets covered with scales and star-shaped hairs

Habitat:   

• Coastal sand dunes and on sandstones, sometimes also on granite (in the Gibraltar Range)

Distribution:                  

• It is distributed from south-east Queensland to as far south as Glenreagh in NSW

Additional notes:    

• Taxonomy 

  • This species was first formally described in 1898 by Frederick Manson Bailey who gave it the name Asterolasia woombye and published the description in the Queensland Agricultural Journal from specimens collected near Woombye

  • In 1913 Karel Domin changed the name to Phebalium woombye, publishing the change in the journal Repertorium Specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis

Sources of information:

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