Richea pandanifolia
| Richea pandanifolia | |
|---|---|
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| Richea pandanifolia in Mount Field National Park | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Richea |
| Species: | R. pandanifolia |
| Binomial name | |
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Richea pandanifolia Hook.f. |
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| Synonyms | |
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Cystanthe pandanifolia (Hook.f.) Kuntze |
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Cystanthe pandanifolia (Hook.f.) Kuntze
Richea pandanifolia (Pandani or giant grass tree) is a distinctive endemic Tasmanian angiosperm. It is dicot belonging to the Ericaceae family and is found in central, western and south west Tasmania. It is a favourite among hikers and nature lovers.
R. pandanifolia can be described as an erect tree or shrub. It grows from 2 to 12 metres (6 ft 7 in to 39 ft 4 in) in height. While it usually grows from just one stem, it can sometimes be branched. This branching occurs in the lowland subspecies as well as in damaged alpine plants.
The species has strap-like leaves that taper to points and can grow up to 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) long. These are dense and form from terminus branches. As the leaves age they are persistent, meaning that they remain on the plant. Young leaves are green in colour but as they age they become a greyish brown. The margins of these leaves are serrated and can cut human skin.
Inflorescences emerge from the leaf axils on structures called panicles (branched inflorescence) which can grow up to 25 centimetres (10 in) long. Their flowers can be either white of deep pink in colour.
The first European description of this plant was by botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker in his 1844 publication The botany of the Antarctic voyage of H.M. discovery ships Erebus and Terror. I. Flora Antarctica. In this publication Hooke named the species "Richea pandanifolia". In 1891, Otto Kuntze transferred it to the genus Cystanthe.
There are two subspecies:
R. pandanifolia can hybridise with Richea scoparia to make R. Xcurtisiae.
R. Pandanifolia is sometimes confused with Dracophyllum milliganii. R. Pandanifolia can be distinguished from this rare species as D.milliganii has terminal inflorescence where as R. Pandanifolia 's inflorescence in the leaf axis. R. Pandanifolia also has serrated leaf margins where as D.milliganii has smooth leaf margins.
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Wikipedia