Species profile—Shonia carinata
Classification
Plantae (plants) → Equisetopsida (land plants) → Euphorbiaceae → Shonia carinata
Sighting data
Species details
- Kingdom
- Plantae (plants)
- Class
- Equisetopsida (land plants)
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
- Scientific name
- Shonia carinata Halford & R.J.F.Hend.
- WildNet taxon ID
- 30494
- Nature Conservation Act 1992 (NCA) status
- Vulnerable
- Conservation significant
- Yes
- Confidential
- No
- Endemicity
- Native
- Pest status
- Nil
- Short Notes
- Status designated by author (Halford)
- Description
- Shonia carinata is an erect to spreading multi-stemmed shrub to 2 m high, it is viscid on most parts. The bark is rough and scaly and is dark grey in colour. The branchlets are somewhat angular, becoming terete with age, and are glabrous. The leaves have petioles 0.5 to 1.2 mm long that are terete, glabrous and smooth. The lamina are linear, 12 to 40 mm long by 0.8 to 1.4 mm wide, with a length/width ratio of 20 to 40 to 1, they are cuneate at the base and obtuse to rounded or acute at the apex, and with the margins recurved to the midrib. The upper surface is yellow-green with the midvein obscure, the undersurface is white, with stellate (star shaped), hairs. The inflorescence is a raceme, (flowers arranged singly on an unbranched stem). Flowers with calyx 5 (rarely 4). Male flowers with pedicels from 6 to 9 mm long, terete, glabrous, calyx lobes oblong, 0.5 to 1.1 mm long by 0.5 to 0.8 mm wide, obtuse to rounded at the apex. The petals are broadly obovate, 1.4 to 1.6 mm long by 0.6 to 1.2 mm wide, rounded at the apex. Stamens about 10, filaments 0.7 to 0.8 mm long, glabrous, anthers 0.3 to 0.4 mm long. The female flowers with pedicels 12 to 17 mm long, glabrous, calyx lobes oblong, about 1.2 m long by 0.4 to 0.5 mm wide, obtuse to rounded at the apex. The petals are suborbicular, about 1.2 mm long and 1.2 mm wide, rounded at the apex. The fruits are broadly ellipsoid, 5 to 5.2 mm long by 5.2 by 5.4 mm across. The seeds are about 5 mm long and about 2.5 mm wide and 2 mm across (Halford and Henderson, 2005).
Shonia carinata is similar to S. bickertonensis in having linear leaves but can be distinguished from that and all other Shonia species by its abaxially prominently keeled calyx lobes (Halford and Henderson, 2005). - Map
- View Map
- Distribution
- Shonia carinata is confined to central Queensland in an area more or less bounded by Tambo, Springsure and Mitchell. The species occurs within Carnarvon National Park, Castlevale Nature Refuge and Chesterton Range National Park (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Distributional limits
- -24.5567757, 146.739474
-26.2401059, 147.9069591 - Range derivation
- Range derived from extent of the taxon's verified records
- Habitat
- Shonia carinata is recorded as growing in shallow sandy soils associated with rocky sandstone slopes and cliff lines in woodland dominated by Eucalyptus cloeziana and/or E. decorticans, with a shrubby understory (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Reproduction
- Flowers have been collected from August to November, fruits in August and September (Queensland Herbarium, 2012).
- Threatening processes
- No substantiated threatening processes recorded in the literature.
- Status notes
- Shonia carinata is listed as Vulnerable under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992
- References
- Halford, D.A. and Henderson, R.J.F. (2005). Studies in Euphorbiaceae, s.lat. 7. Shonia R.J.F.Hend. and Halford (Ricinocarpeae, Ricinocarpinae), a new Australian endemic genus. Austrobaileya 7 (1): 226-227.
Queensland Herbarium (2012). Specimen label information. Queensland Herbarium. Accessed 20/03/2012. - Profile author
- Ronald Booth (05/06/2012)
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=30494.
This information is sourced from the WildNet database managed by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.
