| Adenanthos macropodianus | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Adenanthos |
| Section: | Adenanthossect. Adenanthos |
| Species: | A. macropodianus |
| Binomial name | |
| Adenanthos macropodianus | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Adenanthos macropodianus, commonly known asgland flower,[2] orKangaroo Island gland flower,[3] is a species of shrub in the familyProteaceae. It is endemic toKangaroo Island inSouth Australia. First published as a variety ofA. sericeus in 1870, it was promoted to species rank in 1978.
Adenanthos macropodianus has an erect habit, usually growing to 1 metre (3 ft) in height although plants as high as 3 metres (10 ft) have been recorded. The leaves, which are up to 15 mm (0.6 in) long, are silvery, and deeply lobed into nine or more soft, hairylaciniae about half a millimetre in diameter. The flowers, which appear throughout the year, have a pink to red (or rarely yellow)perianth and a style up to 30 mm long.[4]
Early botanical collectors of this taxon includeFerdinand von Mueller andFrederick George Waterhouse. Mueller regarded it as a distinct species, provisionally labelling itA. barbata in his herbarium, but publication fell toGeorge Bentham, who regarded it as merely a variety ofA. sericea (nowA. sericeus). In 1870, Bentham published it asA. sericea var.brevifolia, in Volume 5 of his landmarkFlora Australiensis. He divided the genus into twosections, placing this taxon inA. sect.Stenolaema because its perianth tube is straight and not swollen above the middle.[5] This division of the genus is still accepted today, thoughA. sect.Stenolaema is now renamed to theautonymA. sect.Adenanthos.
Early in the 1970s,Ernest Charles Nelson began investigating the question of why there are so many plant species with disjunct distribution patterns in southern Australia. One such species wasA. sericea, the Kangaroo Island variety of which occurred about 2500 km (1600 mi) east of the nearest population of the Western Australian variety. This led Nelson to undertake a full taxonomic revision ofAdenanthos, in the course of which he concluded thatA. sericea var.brevifolia warranted species rank, primarily because leaves are much smaller and have fewer laciniae than the Western AustralianA. sericea. In 1978 he published a new description of the taxon, giving it species rank with the nameAdenanthos macropodiana, and synonymizingA. sericea var.brevifolia with it. The specific epithetmacropodiana is a reference toMacropus, the genus to which all terrestrialkangaroos belong,[6] referring to the fact that it is only found on Kangaroo Island.[2]
Nelson refined Bentham's arrangement by dividingA. sect.Adenanthos into two subsections, withA. macropodiana placed intoA. subsect.Adenanthos for reasons including the length of its perianth.[6] However, he discarded his own subsections in his 1995 treatment ofAdenanthos for theFlora of Australia series of monographs. By this time, theICBN had issued a ruling that all genera ending in-anthos must be treated as havingmasculine gender; thus the specific epithet becamemacropodianus.[4]
The placement ofA. macropodianus inNelson's arrangement ofAdenanthos may be summarised as follows:[4]
Hybrids withA. terminalis, the only otherAdenanthos species that occurs on Kangaroo Island, have been reported.[2]
This species is endemic toKangaroo Island,South Australia, making it one of only twoAdenanthos species to occur outsideWestern Australia. It grows on sandysiliceous soils, often amongst tall scrub. Plants often found growing in association with it includeEucalyptus species,Banksia ornata andBanksia marginata.[2][6] It is said to be especially common inFlinders Chase.[4]
In 1988 the species was not known in cultivation, though there was speculation that its tolerance of salt spray may render it useful for coastal gardens.[2] Currently, theWittunga Botanic Garden andRoyal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Australia have a number of plants in cultivation.[7][8]
