Commersonia magniflora

Commersonia magniflora is an erect shrub that typically grows to 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) high and wide, its new growth covered with downy hairs. The leaves are narrowly oblong to elliptic or egg-shaped, 10–40 mm (0.39–1.57 in) long and 6–12 mm (0.24–0.47 in) wide on a petiole 1–5 mm (0.039–0.197 in) long with stipules 2–8 mm (0.079–0.315 in) long at the base. The upper surface of the leaves has the veins imprinted, giving it a wrinkled appearance, the edges are serrated and rolled under, and both surfaces are densely covered with star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in groups of 3 to 10 on a peduncle 4–15 mm (0.16–0.59 in) long, each flower on a pedicel 4–12 mm (0.16–0.47 in) long. The flowers are 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) wide with five deep pink, petal-like sepals joined for most of their length, and five cream-coloured petals that are much shorter than the sepals, the ligule narrowly oblong. There is a single, densely hairy staminode between each pair of stamens. Flowering occurs from May to December and the fruit is a hairy, elliptic capsule 8 mm (0.31 in) wide.[2][3][4]

This species was first formally described in 1874 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Rulingia magniflora in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae,[5][6] but in 1881 he transferred it to the genus, Commersonia in a later edition of Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.[7][8] The specific epithet (magniflora) means "large-flowered".[9]

Commersonia magniflora occurs in two disjunct populations. It grows in rocky outcrops, gorges along creeks from Ormiston Gorge and Kings Canyon in the Northern Territory to the north-west corner of South Australia. A second population grows in open woodland and shrubland between Coolgardie and Cunderdin in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Mallee and Murchison bioregions of Western Australia.[2][3][10]