Brunfelsia australis
| Brunfelsia australis | ||||||||||||
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Brunfelsia australis |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Brunfelsia australis | ||||||||||||
| Benth. |
Brunfelsia australis is a species from the Franciscea section of the genus Brunfelsia . The 2 to 4 m high shrubs or trees are found in parts of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
description
Vegetative characteristics
Brunfelsia australis is a 2 to 4 m high shrub or small tree . The trunk is often branched just above the base and reaches a diameter of up to 8 cm. The branches are upright and splayed, covered with leaves and hairless. The bark is green with yellow-brown cracks and cork warts . The young twigs are hairless and green.
The leaves are distributed over the entire branches on 3 to 8 mm long, hairless or slightly hairy petioles . The membranous to almost leathery leaf blade is 4 to 12.5 cm long and 2.5 to 6.0 cm wide. It is broadly elliptical to inversely ovate, rarely circular or rhombic. The tip is blunt to rounded, only occasionally tapering to a point, the base is wedge-shaped and often ciliate with downy hairs on young leaves, becoming bald or glandular towards the midrib. The top is dull green, the underside pale green. Five to seven straight or slightly curved side veins protrude from the midrib on both sides and protrude on the underside.
Inflorescences and flowers
The sessile inflorescences are terminal at the tips of the branches and consist of one to four fragrant flowers . The bracts of the flowers can be up to 2 mm long, lanceolate, concave and ciliate, as well as being like leaves at first. The flower stalks are strong, 4 to 7 mm long and hairless, while the fruit ripens they become thicker and corky-warty.
The pale green calyx reaches a length of 7 to 12 mm and a diameter of 4 to 10 mm. It is bell-shaped, more or less inflated, hairless, rarely spotted with papillae , tightly skinned and with reticulated veins. The ovate-lanceolate calyx teeth are 3 to 6 mm long and tapered to a point. When the fruit ripens, the calyx partially encloses the fruit and becomes tough and smooth.
The initially purple, fading to white with age, fused petals form a 25 to 32 mm long corolla tube, which has a diameter of 1.5 to 2.0 mm and is two to three times as long as the calyx. This is followed by a flat, protruding coronet, which has a diameter of 30 to 40 mm. At the transition between the corolla tube and the coronary hem there is a clearly pronounced, round, white to yellow thickening. The laterally overlapping crown lobes are designed in the same way, broadly rounded, often suddenly tapering at the tip.
The four stamens are in two pairs within the corolla tube. The stamens are slender, 2 to 3 mm long in the upper pair and 3 to 5 mm long in the lower pair. The anthers have a diameter of 1 mm and are circular-kidney-shaped.
The ovate-conical ovary has mm a height of about 2.5 mm and a diameter of Figure 1. The stylus is 20 to 28 mm long , the stigma is about 1 mm long.
Fruits and seeds
The fruit is a 10 to 22 mm long and 10 to 20 mm wide capsule that is almost spherical to ovoid. It is pointed at the top. It is smooth, hairless, and dark green. The pericarp is 0.5 mm thick and dries up when ripe. The capsule does not pop open or only pops very late. 20 to 40 seeds are formed per fruit , which are 4 to 6 mm long and 3 to 4 mm in diameter. They are elongated-elliptical, angled and dark brown. The slightly curved embryo is 3 to 4 mm long, the cotyledons are egg-shaped.
Occurrence
Brunfelsia australis occurs in the Brazilian states of Paraná , Rio Grande do Sul and Sao Paulo as well as in Paraguay , in the Argentine provinces of Chaco , Corrientes , Formosa , Misiones and Santa Fe , and in Uruguay . They can be found in cultivation as ornamental plants in large parts of South America, where they grow mainly between the latitudes 35 ° N and 35 ° S.
literature
- Timothy C. Plowman (Author), Sandra Knapp, JR Press (Ed.): A Revision of the South American Species of Brunfelsia (Solanaceae) . Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago August 1998, ISBN 978-9998104693 . (Fieldiana Botany, New Series, number 39).
