Cryptandra hispidula

Cryptandra hispidula, commonly known as rough cryptandra,^[2] is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to South Australia. It is a small shrub with clustered, cylindrical leaves, and tube-shaped white flowers surrounded by leafy bracts.

Cryptandra hispidula
In Cox Scrub Conservation Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Rosales
Family:	Rhamnaceae
Genus:	Cryptandra
Species:	C. hispidula
Binomial name
Cryptandra hispidula Reissek & F.Muell.[1]

Description

Cryptandra hispidula is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 20–30 cm (7.9–11.8 in), its branchlets covered with star-shaped hairs and rough. The leaves are clustered and more or less needle-shaped, 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long and about 0.5 mm (0.020 in) wide with the edges rolled under, concealing the lower surface. The flowers are sessile, arranged in clusters of up to 8 at the ends of branches and are white, tube-shaped, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in) long and surrounded by 4 or 5 hairy brown bracts about half as long as the floral tube. The sepals are 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) long and silky-hairy, the style nearly as long as the floral tube. Flowering occurs in most months.^[2][3]

Taxonomy

Cryptandra hispidula was first formally described in 1858 by Siegfried Reissek and Ferdinand von Mueller in the journal Linnaea from specimens collected by Charles Stuart.^[4][5] The specific epithet (hispidula) means "somewhat rough".^[6]

Distribution and habitat

Rough cryptandra mainly grows in swampy country on Kangaroo Island and the southern Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia.^[2]