Dodonaea hexandra
Dodonaea hexandra, commonly known as horned hop bush, is a species of plant in the family Sapindaceae and is native to scattered parts of Australia, mostly in the south of South Australia. It is a spreading, dioecious shrub with simple leaves, flowers arranged singly with six stamens, and spherical, three-angled capsules.
Description
Dodonaea hexandra is a spreading dioecious shrub that typically grows to a height of up to. Its leaves are simple, sessile, mostly long and wide. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils or on the ends of branches on a pedicel long. The three sepals are egg-shaped, long and there are six stamens about the same length as the sepals, the ovary glabrous. Flowering occurs from May to July, and the fruit is a glabrous, three-angled capsule long and wide, the appendages often absent, or if present, lobe-like and crust-like, wide.
Taxonomy and naming
Dodonaea hexandra was first formally described in 1855 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his Definitions of rare or hitherto undescribed Australian plants from specimens collected by near Port Lincoln. The specific epithet means 'six stamens'.
This species of Dodonaea grows in mallee scrub dominated by tree species in the south of South Australia, the far south of Western Australia, and far north-western Victoria.
Dodonaea hexandra is listed as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations where it is potentially at risk.