Lambertia formosa
| Lambertia formosa | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Lambertia |
| Species: | L. formosa |
| Binomial name | |
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Lambertia formosa Sm. |
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| Range of L. formosa | |
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Lambertia formosa, commonly known as mountain devil, is a shrub of the family Proteaceae, endemic to New South Wales, Australia. First described in 1798 by English botanist James Edward Smith, it is the type species of the small genus Lambertia. It is generally found in heathland or open forest, growing in sandstone-based soils. It grows as a multistemmed shrub to around 2 m (7 ft) with a woody base known as a lignotuber, from which it regrows after bushfire. It has stiff narrow leaves, and the pink to red flowerheads, made up of seven individual tubular flowers, generally appear in spring and summer. It gains its common name from the horned woody follicles, which were used to make small devil-figures.
The flowers hold profuse amounts of nectar and are pollinated by honeyeaters. Although L. formosa is uncommon in cultivation, it is straightforward to grow in soils with good drainage and a partly shaded to sunny aspect. It is readily propagated by seed. Unlike all other members of the genus Lambertia, L. formosa is greatly resistant to the soil pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi.
Specimens of Lambertia formosa were collected by botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander during Lieutenant James Cook's landing at Botany Bay between April and May in 1770. These are thought to have been obtained from vegetation currently known as the Eastern Suburbs Banksia Scrub that occurs in sandy areas near present-day La Perouse. The shrub was first described in 1798 by English botanist James Edward Smith who concurrently erected the new genus Lambertia, the name honouring English botanist Aylmer Bourke Lambert. The specific name formosa is the Latin adjective for 'handsome'. English plantsman Henry Charles Andrews wrote in 1799, "Of all the plants yet introduced from New Holland, that have hitherto flowered with us, this unquestionably takes the lead for beauty, considering the plant altogether", although his countryman Joseph Knight in his 1809 work On the cultivation of the plants belonging to the natural order of Proteeae added that the species name "applies only to the flowers, the foliage being generally of a sickly hue". French botanist Michel Gandoger described specimens collected at Hornsby and Port Jackson as Lambertia proxima, and material sent to him by plant collector Charles Walter as L. barbata in 1919; these turned out to be L. formosa. Gandoger described 212 taxa of Australian plants, almost all of which turned out to be species already described.
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