Species profile—Bursaria reevesii
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Pittosporaceae → Bursaria reevesii
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Pittosporaceae
- Scientific name
- Bursaria reevesii L.Cayzer, Crisp & I.Telford
- WildNet taxon ID
- 2053
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Endangered
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- status annotated by author (Cayzer)
- Description
- Bursaria reevesii is a multi-stemmed shrub to 3 m tall; the branches are erect or sprawling, sometimes almost procumbent. The seedling leaves are initially alternate for about 10 nodes, then appearing clustered in a funnel shaped arrangement on sturdy, spinescent, short shoots (10 mm long and terete), elliptic, 10 mm by 4-5 mm, petiolate (1 to 2 mm long) with the margins very dentate, and nearly lobed; the apex is acute and toothed; both surfaces glabrescent. The adult leaves becoming alternate, rarely with spinescent shoots, xeromorphic, obovate, 16 to 30 mm long by 5 to 8 mm wide, the petioles are 1 to 3 mm long; the leaf margins are thickened, not recurved; the leaf apex is rounded to acute with a prominent mucro; both leaf surfaces are glabrous. The flowers are cream with the petals 5 to 6mm long, not recurved. The persistent sepals are 1 to 2 mm long with the apices acuminate and the margins sparsely hairy. The fruits are wider than long, 5 to 8 mm by 6 to 9 mm. The seeds are 2 to 3 per loculus, flat with thickened margins and not winged.
Bursaria reevesii is most closely related to B. spinosa subsp. spinosa but the usual adult habit of the latter is a small tree with erect branches 5 to 8 m; the seedling leaf margins are dentate but not approaching lobed; the adult leaves are longer (20 to 43 mm), and essentially sessile; bracts and sepals are small (Cayzer, 1999). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- Bursaria reevesii is known only from central Queensland on serpentinite outcrops in the Marlborough district. The species occurs within the Glen Geddes area (north of Rockhampton) There species occurs within Lake Learmouth State Forest (Queensland Herbarium 2012).
- Distributional limits
- -22.8552777, 149.835
-23.0758118, 150.2944146 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Bursaria reevesii grows along drainage lines and creek beds in silty loams derived from ultramafic (serpentine) rocks where typically the Mg/Ca quotient and nickel concentrations are high. In addition, the soils in this region contain a very high iron concentration reflected in the deep red coloration of the soil (Batianoff and Specht 1992; Cayzer, 1999).
Associated species and vegetation include: Eucalyptus fibrosa /Corymbia xanthope open woodland with Acacia leptostachya, Hakea trineura in the mid layer with mid-dense lower mid layer of Xanthorrhoea sp., Leucopogon cuspidatus and hummocks of grasses, and; open eucalypt forest on serpenite ridges, with Corymbia xanthope, Xanthorrhoea johnsonii and Acacia leptostachya (Queensland Herbarium, 2012). - Reproduction
- Flowering from January through to May. Fruiting some months later from July onwards (Cayzer, 1999; Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Threatening processes
- Bursaria reevesii is vulnerable due to habitat alteration such as clearing, cattle grazing and dam construction (Batianoff, 1992).
- Status notes
- Bursaria reevesii is listed as Vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992.
- Management recommendations
- There are no current management recommendations for Bursaria reevesii.
- References
- Batianoff, G.N. and Specht, R.L. (1992). Queensland (Australia) serpentine vegetation. In The Vegetation of Ultramafic (Serpentine) Soils. (Eds A.J.M. Baker, J. Proctor and R.D. Reeves.) pp. 109-128. (Intercept: Andover, Hampshire.)
Cayzer, L.W., Crisp, M.D. and Telford, I.R.H. (1999). Bursaria (Pittosporaceae): a morphometric analysis and revision. Australian Systematic Botany 12 (1): 139, 140.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 05/03/2012. - Profile author
- Ronald Booth (12/05/2012)
Other resources
Data source
This profile data is sourced from the QLD Wildlife Data API using the Get species by ID function used under CC-By 4.0.
https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/species/?op=getspeciesbyid&taxonid=2053.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
