Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Cryptandra speciosa subsp. speciosa
Common name
Silky Cryptandra, Mountain Cryptandra
Family
Rhamnaceae
Where found
Dry forest, woodland, shrubland, rocky areas, and along streams. Mainly ACT and nearby.
Notes
Shrub to 1.5 m tall. Young stems densely hairy with appressed simple hairs overlying small stellate hairs (needs a hand lens or a macro app on your phone/tablet to see). Leaves in clusters and alternating up the stems, 0.2-0.6 cm long, 0.4-2 mm wide, more or less cylindrical, grooved beneath, margins rolled down; tips pointed or blunt, sometimes with a short mucro, upper surface hairless, smooth, lower surface usually not visible, densely grey-stellate-hairy, rarely becoming hairless. Flowers white, tubular, the tube 2.3-3.5 mm long, with 5 erect or spreading lobes each 2.6–4 mm long. Bracts covering the bases of the flowers dark brown to black. Flowers in clusters of 1-10 flowers. Flowers Autumn to Spring.
Formerly included in Cryptandra propinqua.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Vulnerable Vic.
VICFLORA description: https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/078d5170-2433-41e3-b351-79b143fd0858 (accessed 30 April 2021)
Description above partly based on Kellermann, J. & Udovicic, F., (2007) A revision of the Cryptandra propinqua complex (Rhamnaceae: Pomaderreae). Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 128: 90-91 Fig. 5
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