Lechenaultia


Lechenaultia is a genus of plants in the family Goodeniaceae. Some species of this genus are used as ornamental plants, in particular L. biloba, L. formosa and L. macrantha.Lechenaultia species are diverse in form: they may be woody or herbaceous, upright or prostrate with leaves flat, needle-like or virtually absent in mature plants. The genus differs from other Goodeniaceae in the structure of the stigma and the fertilization mechanism. They are found in Australia and New Guinea.
They are named for the botanist attached to the Baudin expedition to Australia, Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour. Robert Brown had met Leschenault and assumed to spell his name the French way without the 's'. However, Bentham introduced the German spelling with the 's' and subsequent writers followed suit as the name was written Leschenaultia, but reverted to Robert Brown's spelling in the 1950s. The common names of the species maintains the correction, as with the section name.
The type species is Lechenaultia formosa.
The following is a list of the taxa contained by the genus Lechenaultia;
;Sections
;Species
In addition to these species, there are two descriptions of specimens held at the Western Australian Herbarium: