Boronia pauciflora

Boronia pauciflora is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub usually with simple leaves and white to pink, four-petalled flowers.

Boronia pauciflora
Conservation status
Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Genus:	Boronia
Species:	B. pauciflora
Binomial name
Boronia pauciflora W.Fitzg.[1]
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Description

Boronia pauciflora is an erect, many-branched shrub that grows to 60 cm (20 in) high and is only hairy when young. Its branches are more or less square in cross-section and the leaves are arranged in opposite pairs. Mature leaves are simple and have a petiole 0.5–7 mm (0.02–0.3 in) long, but juvenile leaves are trifoliate and sessile. Mature leaves and the end leaflet of juvenile leaves are elliptic to lance-shaped, 12–80 mm (0.5–3 in) long and 2–12 mm (0.08–0.5 in) wide and the side leaflets are a similar shape but shorter. The flowers are white to pink and are egg-shaped to triangular, usually arranged singly, sometimes in groups of up to three, in leaf axils on a pedicel 4–23 mm (0.2–0.9 in) long. The four sepals are egg-shaped to triangular, 2.5–4.5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) wide but almost double in size as the fruit develops. The petals are a similar size to the sepals and scarcely enlarge as the fruit develops. Flowering occurs from May to July.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Boronia pauciflora was first formally described in 1918 by William Vincent Fitzgerald from a specimen he collected "above the base of Mt. Broome, King Leopold Ranges" (modern-day Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges). The description was published in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Western Australia.[5][6] The specific epithet (pauciflora) is derived from the Latin words paucus meaning "few" or "little" and -florus meaning "flowered".[7]

Distribution and habitat

This boronia grows in rocky places near the Prince Regent River, Edkins Range and King Leopold Ranges in the Kimberley region.[4][8]

Conservation

Boronia pauciflora is classed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife[8] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[9]

References

1. "Boronia pauciflora". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
2. Duretto, Marco (1999). "Systematics of Boronia section Valvatae sensu lato (Rutaceae)" (PDF). Muelleria. 12 (1): 111–112. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
3. Duretto, Marco F. (1997). "Taxonomic notes on Boronia species of north-western Australia" (PDF). Nuytsia. 11 (3): 330–332. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
4. Duretto, Marco F.; Wilson, Paul G.; Ladiges, Pauline Y. "Boronia pauciflora". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
5. "Boronia pauciflora". APNI. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
6. Fitzgerald, William Vincent (1918). "The Botany of the Kinberleys, north-west Australia". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Western Australia. 3: 158–159. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
7. Francis Aubie Sharr (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings. Kardinya, Western Australia: Four Gables Press. p. 272. ISBN 9780958034180.
8. "Boronia pauciflora". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
9. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 10 April 2019.