page_title: Persoonia lanceolata
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Persoonia lanceolata / Description
caption_attribution_description: Persoonia lanceolata. Royal National Park, NSW Australia, March 2011.
context_page_description: Persoonia lanceolata, commonly known as lance-leaf geebung, is a shrub native to New South Wales in eastern Australia. It reaches 3 m in height and has smooth grey bark and bright green foliage. Its small yellow flowers grow on racemes and appear in the austral summer and autumn, followed by green fleshy fruits which ripen the following spring. Within the genus Persoonia, P. lanceolata belongs to the lanceolata group of 58 closely related species. It interbreeds with several other species found in its range.
  The species is usually found in dry sclerophyll forest on sandstone-based nutrient-deficient soil. It has adapted to a fire-prone environment; plants lost in bushfires can regenerate through a ground-stored seed bank. Seedlings mostly germinate within two years of fires. Several species of native bee of the genus Leioproctus pollinate the flowers. Swamp wallabies are a main consumer of its fruit, and the seeds are spread in wallaby faeces. Its lifespan ranges from 25 to 60 years, though difficulties in propagation have seen low cultivation rates.
context_section_description: Persoonia lanceolata is a shrub which ranges from 0.5–3 m (1.6–9.8 ft) high. The grey bark is smooth, and the new growth is hairy. Arranged alternately on the stems, the thick leathery leaves are oblanceolate or obovate in shape, and measure 3–10 cm (1.2–3.9 in) in length, and around 0.4–3.2 cm (0.16–1.3 in) wide. Hairy when young, they are smooth and featureless. Bright green in colour with a yellowish tint at times, the leaves are concolorous, that is both leaf surfaces are the same colour. The finely hairy yellow flowers appear mainly from January to April, but may be encountered at any time of year. They are arranged in leafy racemes, and each stem may bear 4 to 54 flowers. P. lanceolata is described as auxotelic, which means each stalk bears an individual flower that is subtended by a leaf at its junction with the stem. On 0.5 cm (0.2 in) stalks, the flowers may reach 1 cm (0.4 in) in dimensions, and are typical for the genus.
  Each individual flower consists of a cylindrical perianth which splits into four segments or tepals, and contains both male and female parts. Within this, the central style is surrounded by the anther, which splits into four segments; these curl back and resemble a cross when viewed from above. They provide a landing area for insects attending to the stigma, which is located at the tip of the style. The smooth fleshy drupes are green and more or less round, measuring 1 cm (0.4 in) by 0.8 cm (0.3 in) in diameter. Containing two seeds, they weigh around 1.3 g (0.05 oz) and become partly red as they ripen and fall to the ground the following spring (September to October). Once fallen to the ground, the drupes soften and become a dark red over two to three weeks before shrivelling and blackening. The drupes are edible and were eaten by the local aboriginal people.
  The firm bark and lanceolate leaves of P. lanceolata distinguish it from P. levis, with which it can be confused; the latter species has flaky bark and asymmetrical leaves.
caption: Individual flower, showing the outer tubular perianth splitting into four tepals, inside which an anther splits into four, around a central style tipped with a stigma
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon DIGITAL IXUS 860 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2011:03:12 10:04:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5264", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:03:12 10:04:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:03:12 10:04:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "213/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "95/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "23/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1501", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3264", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2448", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3362", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "43520/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2448000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}