Correa backhouseana

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms  > Eudicots > Rosids >  Sapindales > Rutaceae  > Correa 

Other links:    

Plant  information

Common name:                unknown  

Conservation status:  Vulnerable

• Listed as "vulnerable" by the Victorian Government 

Etymology:   

• x

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are arranged singly or in groups of two or three on short side shoots and are usually pendent

• The calyx is hemispherical, 2–7 mm high and densely covered with woolly hairs

• The petals are cream-coloured to pale green or red and yellow

• 15–25 mm long and form a cylindrical or funnel-shaped corolla

• The eight stamens are slightly longer than the corolla

Fruit:                         

• x

Leaves:         

• The leaves are leathery, elliptical to egg-shaped or more or less round

• Mostly 15–25 mm long on a short petiole

• The upper surface of the leaves is more or less glabrous

• The lower surface is densely covered with woolly hairs

Stem & branches: 

• x

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• x 

Habitat:   

• Correa backhouseana is a rounded shrub that typically grows to a height of 2 m with its young branchlets covered with woolly, rust-coloured hairs 

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to coastal and near-coastal areas of southern Australia

• Includes Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania

  • Variety backhouseana usually grows on coastal dunes and among rocks in coastal Tasmania, the Bass Strait Islands and near Cape Otway in coastal Victoria

  • Variety coriacea grows on dunes and granite outcrops westwards from the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia and on limestone escarpments along the south-eastern coast of Western Australia

  • Variety orbicularis is endemic to Kangaroo Island in South Australia where it grows in coastal heath on sand, often over limestone

Species:                     

• Three varieties are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

  • Correa backhouseana var. backhouseana, commonly known as coast correa in Victoria and as velvet correa in Tasmania, has a cream-coloured corolla and egg-shaped to broadly egg-shaped or broadly elliptical leaves that are smooth on the upper surface

  • Correa backhouseana var. coriacea, commonly known as thick-leaf correa in South Australia, has egg-shaped leaves and a red corolla with yellowish tips on the lobes

  • Correa backhouseana var. orbicularis, commonly known as the round-leaf Kangaroo Island correa has broadly egg-shaped to round leaves and a red corolla with yellowish tips on the lobes  

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Correa backhouseanas was first formally described in 1834 by botanist William Jackson Hooker in The Journal of Botany

  • The type specimen was collected by English botanist and missionary James Backhouse at Cape Grim in Tasmania in 1833

• Use in horticulture

  • Correa backhouseana is a hardy plant down to −5 °C

  • It is useful as a screening plant or along fencelines

  • It is also used as a container plant and its flowers and foliage can be used in floral arrangements

  •  It prefers a position with some shade and will tolerate salt-laden winds and frost

  • The cultivar Correa backhouseana var. coriacea 'Eucla Gold' has smaller, narrower, and more brightly coloured flowers than usual

  • It was selected from a wild population near Eucla, Western Australia and brought into cultivation in Victoria in 1988

  • Correa backhouseana has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. In the UK it requires a sheltered location and some protection in winter.