Fieldia (plant)

Fieldia
Fruiting Fieldia growing on a soft tree fern at Mount Wilson, Blue Mountains National Park, Australia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Gesneriaceae
Genus: Fieldia
Species: F. australis
Binomial name
Fieldia australis
A.Cunn.
Synonyms

Basileophyta friderici-augusta F.Muell.

Fieldia australis, usually referred to as fieldia is a small climbing plant or epiphyte found in eastern Australian rainforests. Commonly seen in the cooler rainforests at higher altitudes. It also grows in the warmer rainforests with a high humidity. The plant uses adventitious roots to grip hold of tree trunks, mossy rocks or tree ferns.

Leaves are 3 to 7 cm long 1 to 3 cm wide, reverse ovate or elliptical in shape with toothed edges. The leaf stem is around 8 mm long. Flowering occurs mostly in summer or autumn, being an attractive, relatively long thin white flower. The fruit is a whitish berry with some purple markings. Egg-shaped or oblong, 1 to 3 cm long, and around 11 mm in diameter.[1]

Taxonomy

Fieldia australis was originally described and placed in its own genus Fieldia by botanist Allan Cunningham in 1825.[2] The name Fieldia honours Barron Field (1786–1846), judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, amateur naturalist and editor of the book Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales in which the genus and species name were first published.[3]

In a paper published in the Edinburgh Journal of Botany in 1999, English botanist Brian Laurence Burtt included the monotypic genus Lenbrassia in Fieldia creating the new combination Fieldia australiana (C.T. White) B.L. Burtt (syn. Lenbrassia australiana) for the tree species from northern Queensland. The incorporation of the two species into the one genus has been questioned due to "strong differences in habit, inflorescence and minor floral and fruit characters".[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Fieldia australis". PlantNET - NSW Flora Online. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
  2. ↑ "Fieldia". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 2010-08-25.
  3. 1 2 Weber, Anton; Skog, Laurence E. (2007 onw.). "The genera of Gesneriaceae. Basic information with illustration of selected species. Ed. 2.". Retrieved 2010-08-25. Check date values in: |date= (help)


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