View source for Biology:Androcalva argentea

{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = 
| image = 
| image_caption =
| status = 
| status_system =
| genus = Androcalva
| species = argentea
| authority = (Guymer) C.F.Wilkins & Whitlock<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Androcalva argentea'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/235993|website=Australian Plant Census |access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref>
|synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" />
|synonyms = 
* ''Commersonia argentea'' <small>Guymer</small> 
* ''Commersonia'' sp. 'Cadarga' (G.P.Guymer 1642) 
* ''Commersonia'' sp. (Cadarga G.P.Guymer 1642) 
* ''Commersonia'' sp. 1 (Cadarga) 
* ''Commersonia'' sp. 1 (Cardargia; G.P.Guymer 1642) 
* ''Commersonia'' sp. 2 
* ''Commersonia'' sp. Cadarga (G.P.Guymer 1642)
}}

'''''Androcalva argentea''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family [[Biology:Malvaceae|Malvaceae]] and is endemic to Queensland. It is a tall shrub that forms [[Biology:Basal shoot|suckers]] from [[Biology:Rhizome|rhizome]]s and has silvery branchlets and leaves, the leaves egg-shaped with wavy edges and serrated, and dense clusters of 10 to 30 white to cream-coloured flowers.

==Description==
''Androcalva argentea'' is a shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|1.5–4|m}} high, {{cvt|1–3|m}} wide, forms suckers from rhizomes, and has its new growth densely covered with silvery, velvety hairs. The leaves are egg-shaped, {{cvt|35–130|mm}} long and {{cvt|20–75|mm}} wide on a [[Biology:Petiole (botany)|petiole]] {{cvt|4–8|mm}} long with triangular [[Biology:Stipule|stipule]]s {{cvt|2–6|mm}} long at the base, but that fall off as the leaf matures. There are irregular, rounded serrations on the edges of the leaves and both surfaces of the leaves are covered with velvety, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in dense clusters of 10 to 30 on a [[Biology:Peduncle (botany)|peduncle]] {{cvt|10–20|mm}} long, each flower on a [[Biology:Pedicel (botany)|pedicel]] {{cvt|4–11|mm}} long, with [[Biology:Bract|bract]]s {{cvt|2–4|mm}} long at the base. The flowers are white to cream-coloured and up to {{cvt|10|mm}} in diameter with 5 petal-like [[Biology:Sepal|sepal]]s with velvety hairs on the outside. The petals are {{cvt|4–6|mm}} long with 3 lobes slightly longer than the sepal lobes, and there are 3 [[Biology:Staminode|staminode]]s, the central one spatula-shaped and the other two linear and longer than the sepal lobes. Flowering has been recorded from November to January, and in March.<ref name="Blake">{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Trevor L. |title=Lantern bushes of Australia ; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide |date=2021 |publisher=Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group |location=Victoria |isbn=9780646839301 |pages=96–97}}</ref><ref name="Guymer">{{cite journal |last1=Guymer |first1=Gordon P. |title=New species of ''Commersonia'' J.R.Forst. & G.Forst. (Sterculiaceae) from Eastern Australia and Vanuatu. |journal=Austrobaileya |date=2005 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=235–236 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/281425#page/241/mode/1up |access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref>

==Taxonomy==
This species was first formally described in 2005 by Gordon Guymer who gave it the name ''Commersonia argentea'' in the journal ''Austrobaileya'' from specimens he collected near Cadarga in 1981.<ref name=APNI1>{{cite web|title=''Commersonia argentea''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/601981|publisher=APNI|access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref> In 2011, Carolyn Wilkins and Barbara Whitlock transferred the species to ''Androcalva'' as ''A. argentea'' in ''Australian Systematic Botany''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Androcalva argentea''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/726895|publisher=APNI|access-date=7 April 2023}}</ref> The [[Biology:Botanical name|specific epithet]] (''argentea'') means "silver", referring to the colour of the leaves of this species.<ref name="Guymer" />

==Distribution and habitat==
''Androcalva argentea'' grows in forest on ridges and along creeks from the Carnarvon Range to near Chinchilla in central and south-eastern Queensland.<ref name="Blake" /><ref name="Guymer" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q17579653}}

[[Category:Androcalva|argentea]]

{{Sourceattribution|Androcalva argentea}}