Lambertia Sm.

Wild Honeysuckle

Commemorating Aylmer Bourke Lambert FLS FRS, author and patron of botany in the 18th–19th centuries.

Shrubs or small trees,mostly with smooth bark. Leaves in 3s, rarely 2, 4 or 8. Flower clusters of mostly 1-7 flowers, terminal or appearing axillary on short lateral shoots and with red, yellow or green bracts. Flowers regular or irregular, bisexual and tubular, with 4 lobes, each having a strongly reflexed stamen. Ovary hairy, with the style projecting from the flower. Fruit a woody follicle with a short beak and long horn on each valve.

Grown for the attractive foliage and flowers. The foliage has the potential for use in floristry. L. orbifolia C.A. Gardn., Roundleaf Honeysuckle, from WA is rare and endangered in the wild; it is a shrub to 3 m tall that is occasionally cultivated for its attractive orbicular leaves.

10 species endemic to Australia, 9 from SW WA, 1 from SE NSW.

Seed or softwood cuttings.

Leaves opposite or whorl-like; flowers with a cluster of bracts at the base.

Popular: Sainsbury (1991).

Source: Spencer, R.; Molyneux, B.; Mathews, D. (2002). Proteaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

Hero image
kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Proteanae
order      Proteales
family       Proteaceae
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
species         Lambertia ericifolia R.Br.
species         Lambertia formosa Sm.
species         Lambertia inermis R.Br.
species         Lambertia multiflora Lindl