Seringia nephrosperma

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Seringia nephrosperma (free-carpel fire-bush)

Seringia nephrosperma is a flowering plant in the mallow family (Malvaceae) and is native to northern Australia.

What it looks like
- Growth form: An upright, suckering shrub about 1.5 meters tall and 1 meter wide; new growth is covered in white, star-shaped hairs.
- Leaves: Oblong to lance-shaped, grey-green, 10–30 mm long and 5–15 mm wide, on a twisted petiole 3–5 mm long with tiny stipules at the base.
- Flowers: Purple flowers arranged in groups (cyme) of 5–25 on a peduncle 3–8 mm long. Each flower sits on a 3–10 mm pedicel. The flowers have petal-like sepals that open to 20–30 mm wide and are densely covered on the back with white, star-shaped hairs. There are no true petals, up to 5 staminodes, and yellow filaments. Flowering occurs in most months.
- Fruit: 3–4 mm long and 2.5–3.5 mm wide.
- Similar species: It is similar to Seringia exastia.

Taxonomy
- The species was first described by Ferdinand von Mueller as Keraudrenia nephrosperma. It was later moved to the genus Seringia, becoming Seringia nephrosperma. The name nephrosperma refers to kidney-shaped seeds.

Habitat and distribution
- This plant typically grows in drier inland areas across New South Wales, the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and northern Western Australia.