Bedfordia

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms > Eudicots > Asterids > Asterales > Asteraceae > Bedfordia

Other links:           

Plant  information

Common name:                unknown  

Conservation status:  unknown

Etymology:   

• The genus name honours John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford

Flowers:                  

• Heads in dense axillary branched cluster which is shorter than the leaves

• Flower heads have a flat circular shape

• They are surrounded by a hairy bract which is at base

• Tubular, bisexual florets, scarcely longer than the bract

• The whorl that surrounds the flower heads are densely covered with short matted and stellate hairs

Fruit:                         

• Cylindrical, grooved and not hairy achenes

• Pappus bristles are finely toothed and twice as long as achenes

Leaves:         

• Leaves grow first on one side and then on the other in two ranks along the branches; not paired

• Leaf edges are entire or with irregular rounded scallops, and have leaf stalks

• The leaves are densely covered with short matted and stellate hairs

Stem & branches: 

• The young branches are densely covered with short matted and stellate hairs

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• Shrubs or small trees

Habitat:   

• x 

Distribution:                  

• All species all endemic to Australia

Species:                     

• World:            3 species

• Australia:      3 species

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • The genus was first formally described by Swiss botanist Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in the second volume of Archives de Botanique in 1833

• Species:

  • Bedfordia arborescens (tree blanket leaf) - eastern Australia

  • Bedfordia linearis (slender blanket leaf) - Tasmania

  • Bedfordia salicina DC. (blanket leaf) - Tasmania

• B. salicina intergrades with B. arborescens (a tree) and B. linearis (a shrub