Philotheca hispidula

Philotheca hispidula
In Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Embryophytes
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Spermatophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Genus:	Philotheca
Species:	P. hispidula
Binomial name
Philotheca hispidula (Sieber ex Spreng.) Paul G.Wilson1
Synonyms1
Eriostemon hispidulus Sieber ex Spreng.

Philotheca hispidula is a flowering plant in the citrus family and is endemic to New South Wales. It is a small shrub with narrow egg-shaped to wedge-shaped leaves that are glandular-wavy on the edges, and white or pale pink flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Philotheca hispidula is a shrub that typically grows to a height of about 1 m (3 ft 3 in) with slightly glandular-warty, finely bristly branchlets. The leaves are narrow egg-shaped to narrow wedge-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long and 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in) wide. The flowers are usually arranged singly in leaf axils on a finely bristly peduncle 1–15 mm (0.039–0.591 in) long and a pedicel 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long. There are five semi-circular, fleshy-centred sepals about 1 mm (0.039 in) long and five broadly elliptical white or pale pink petals about 6.5 mm (0.26 in) long with a glandular keel. The ten stamens are slightly hairy. Flowering occurs in spring and the fruit is about 7 mm (0.28 in) long with a beak about 3 mm (0.12 in) long.²³⁴

This species was first formally described in 1827 by Sprengel from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber and the description was published in Systema Vegetabilium.⁵ In 2005 Paul G. Wilson changed the name to Philotheca hispidula in the journal Nuytsia.⁶⁷

Philotheca hispidula grows in forest on sandstone in the Blue Mountains and in the Sydney region.²³