Howittia is a genus of plant containing the single species, Howittia trilocularis, commonly known as blue howittia,
Description
Howittia trilocularis is a spreading shrub up to high with oval to oblong-oval shaped leaves, long and wide, margins smooth, scalloped or slightly lobed. The under surface pale, white, yellow or brownish, irregularly covered with rusty or whitish star-shaped hairs, upper surface dark green. The whitish, lavender or deep mauve flowers are borne singly in the leaf axils, on a peduncle long and densely covered with long, matted hairs. The flowers have five petals, long on a pedicels long and yellow stamens. The calyx lobes are sharply pointed, long, rusty coloured with soft, star-shaped hairs. The seed capsule is rounded or indented globular shaped, in diameter and covered with soft, silky or star-shaped hairs. Flowering occurs from September to January.
Taxonomy
Howittia trilocularis was first formally described in 1855 by Ferdinand von Mueller and the description was published in
Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants from the
type specimen which was found growing on "bushy declivities around
Gippsland Lakes".
The genus was named after
Godfrey Howitt, a
Melbourne physician, in recognition of his work as an amateur botanist. The
botanical name (trilocularis) means "having three
locule.
Distribution
It is found growing in sheltered gullies, rainforest margins and eucalypt forests in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
