Nodding geebung

Description

Persoonia nutans, commonly known as the nodding geebung, is a rare shrub native to New South Wales in eastern Australia. It is one of many species first described by Robert Brown. having been collected by him at the base of the Blue Mountains, 'near Richmond and the Nepean River' in 1802. It is an attractive, erect to spreading shrub to 1.5m (5ft) tall; it has hairy young branches with narrow leaves, about 30 × 1.5mm, flat but with recurved margins. The flowers are yellow, pendulous on a delicate stalk to 12 millimetres (0.47 in) long, with 4 free segments curled back from a cylindrical base, occurring from December to March, with some flowers to July; the ovary is glabrous (hairless). Its fruit is a round glabrous drupe enclosing a single seed. The plant appears to favour sandy soils. It is currently listed as an endangered species on Schedule1 of the Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 and as a nationally endangered species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.