Sommieria leucophylla

Description

Sommieria leucophylla is a solitary plant, with deeply notched, leathery leaves, which have a distinctive whitish underside. The genus Somieria is was used to contain three species, all native to northwestern New Guinea. In 2002, however, botanist Charlie Heatubun joined the three into a single species, however the plants shows may differences in size and form of leaves, thickness of stem, length of peduncle, fruit size, seed shape, etc. Even though under botanical criteria, the reduction to a single species makes sense, horticulturally the three original species are somewhat distinct.