Angophora hispida
| Dwarf apple | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Angophora |
| Species: | A. hispida |
| Binomial name | |
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Angophora hispida (Sm.) Blaxell |
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| Synonyms | |
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Eucalyptus hispida (Sm.) Brooker |
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Eucalyptus hispida (Sm.) Brooker
Angophora cordifolia Cav.
Angophora hispida grows as a mallee, or as a tree to about 7 m (25 ft) in height.A. hispida's small size, especially when compared to its Angophora and Eucalyptus relatives, leads to it being known by the common name dwarf apple. It is native to a relatively small patch of central New South Wales – from just south of Sydney up to the Gosford area. The plant's leaves are sessile (stalk-less) and hug the stem with heart-shaped bases. Its previous name – A. cordifolia – referred to these cordate leaves. Another distinctive feature are the red bristly hairs that cover the branchlets, flower bases and new growth. This leads to the specific epithet hispida (meaning "bristly").
Common names include dwarf apple and scrub apple, and banda in the Cadigal language.
Loddiges Nursery called it the Rough Metrosideros after the dwarf apple was described by James Edward Smith in 1797 as Metrosideros hispida, having been collected by Surgeon-General of New South Wales, John White in 1795.Antonio José Cavanilles also described it the same year as Angophora cordifolia, having been collected somewhere near the shoreline in Port Jackson. The latter name remained in use until 1976, when A. hispida was erected by Don Blaxell, who had established that Smith's name had been published four months earlier in May (contrasting with Cavanillles in September) of 1797.
Smith had been sent a specimen by Surgeon-General White, which flowered in 1798. He went on to publish a fuller description accompanied by an illustration by James Sowerby in 1805.
Kevin Thiele and Pauline Ladiges published a phylogenetic study based on morphology and came up with the smudgy apple (Angophora woodsiana) as the dwarf apple's closest relative. Brooker and colleagues consider it to be more closely related to the broad-leaved apple (A. subvelutina).
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Wikipedia