Skip to main content

Service Notice

The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

The notice period started at 9:45 am on Friday, 12 December 2025 +08:00 and will end at 12:00 pm on Monday, 2 March 2026 +08:00.

Advanced Search

Schoenolaena Bunge

Reference
Pl.Preiss. [J.G.C.Lehmann] 1(4):289 (1845)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Apiaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Slender, erect, rush-like herbs; bearing essential oils, or without essential oils (?); resinous, or not resinous (?). Perennial. Leaves basal (usually), or cauline. Rhizomatous. Helophytic. Leaves small to very large; alternate; ‘herbaceous’, or leathery (?); petiolate; more or less sheathing. Leaf sheaths with free margins. Leaves gland-dotted, or not gland-dotted (?); aromatic, or foetid, or without marked odour (?); simple; pulvinate, or epulvinate (?). Leaf blades entire; solid; terete. Leaves with stipules, or without stipules (?); without a persistent basal meristem. Stem anatomy. Nodes multilacunar, or tri-lacunar (?). Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring, or anomalous (?); from a single cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Entomophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in umbels, or in heads. Inflorescences compound. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose, or racemose (?). Inflorescences terminal and axillary; pedunculate; with involucral bracts; pseudanthial, or not pseudanthial (?). Flowers pedicellate to subsessile; bracteate. Bracts chartaceous, rigid, surrounding the flower heads, longer than the flowers. Flowers small; regular to somewhat irregular (?); 5 merous (except for the gynoecium); cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous; white. Calyx 5; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; distinctly lobed (lobes peltate); persistent. Calyx lobes circular to reniform with a cordate to sagittate base. Corolla 5; 1 -whorled; polypetalous; valvate; unequal but not bilabiate, or regular (?); white. Petals narrowly ovate. Corolla members entire (apex long). Androecium 5. Androecial members free of the perianth; all equal to markedly unequal (?); free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; inflexed in bud. Anthers oblong in outline; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 2 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; inferior. Ovary plurilocular; 2 locular. Gynoecium median. Epigynous disk present. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 2; free to partially joined (their bases thickened into large glands); apical. Stigmas wet type; non-papillate; Group IV type. Placentation axile, or apical (?). Ovules 1 per locule, or 2 per locule (usually two, but one abortive ?); pendulous; epitropous; non-arillate; anatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; a schizocarp. Mericarps 2 (with 5 narrow ribs). Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2. Embryo achlorophyllous; straight. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Aluminium accumulation not found. Photosynthetic pathway: C3.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Native of Australia. Endemic to Australia. Australian states and territories: Western Australia.

Additional characters Petals inflexed.