Adenanthos terminalis

Adenanthos terminalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Adenanthos
Species:	A. terminalis
Binomial name
Adenanthos terminalis R.Br.

Adenanthos terminalis, commonly known as gland flower,yellow gland flower or adenanthos, is a one metre tall shrub in the family Proteaceae. It is found in south eastern regions of Australia, in the states of South Australia and Victoria, and is the most widespread of the two Adenanthos species occurring outside of Western Australia.

Adenanthos terminalis grows as an upright shrub, usually no more than 1 m (3.3 ft) high, but occasionally up to 2 m (6.6 ft). It lacks a lignotuber. Branches are held erect, and are covered in hairs that lie close along the stem. The leaves are laciniate, being segmented by threes into between three and seven, but most often five, long thin laciniae, each between 5 and 15 mm (0.20 and 0.59 in) long, and around 0.5 mm (0.020 in) in diameter. They most occur clustered at the ends of the branches, but some persist on the stem. Stem leaves are most hairless, and smaller than the leaves that surround the flower, which often have long hairs near their bases.

Unlike most other Adenanthos species, the inflorescence of A. terminalis is not always reduced to a single flower: flowers may occur in groups of up to three. They are usually hidden by the surrounding floral leaves, and consist of a perianth up to 16 mm (0.63 in) long, and a style up to 30 mm ( in) long. The perianth is white to cream in colour, sometimes with some green, and covered in short hairs on the outside. The style is also nearly always hairs, and the ovary is densely haired.

The earliest known botanical specimens of A. terminalis were collected by Scottish botanist Robert Brown at Port Lincoln, South Australia in the first few days of March 1802. He described and named the species in his 1810 "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". An explicit etymology for the specific name terminalis was not given, but it is accepted that it is from the Latin terminus ("end"), and refers to the fact that flowers occur at the ends of branches.

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Wikipedia