Hibbertia appressa
# Hibbertia appressa

Hibbertia appressa, commonly known as trailing guinea flower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Dilleniaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a low-lying or scrambling shrub with lance-shaped to egg-shaped leaves and yellow flowers with nine to twelve stamens arranged in a single group.

## Description

Hibbertia appressa is a shrub up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high with erect to low-lying or srambling branches .03–1 m (1.2 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) long. The leaves are lance-shaped to egg-shaped or elliptic, 3.5–9 mm (0.14–0.35 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) wide and on a petiole up to 1 mm (0.039 in) long. The midrib on the lower surface of the leaves is covered with flattened hairs, pressed against the surface. The flowers are arranged singly on the ends of branches on a peduncle 2.1–12.6 mm (0.083–0.496 in) long with tapering linear bracts 1.1–2.5 mm (0.043–0.098 in) long. The five sepals are tinged with red and joined at the base, the outer lobes 2.3–4.5 mm (0.091–0.177 in) long and the inner lobes slightly longer. The five petals are bright yellow and wedge-shaped, 3.6–9.4 mm (0.14–0.37 in) long. There are nine to twelve stamens fused in a single group at the lower half, and there are two carpels. Flowering mainly occurs from September to December.

## Taxonomy

Hibbertia appressa was first described in 1998 by Hellmut R. Toelken in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, but the description was not validly published because it lacked a Latin description and the type was not specified. In 2000, Toelken corrected the omissions and the type selected was collected by R.D. Hoogland on Mount Elizabeth in 1970.

## Distribution and habitat

Trailing guinea flower grows in moist place in woodland or the edges of forest, often on the lower slopes of mountains in southern Victoria and northern, eastern and south-eastern Tasmania.

