Wahlenbergia roxburghii

Wahlenbergia roxburghii is an extinct species of the genus Moor bells ( Wahlenbergia ) within the family of Bellflower Family. She was endemic to St. Helena. The species name honors the Scottish botanist William Roxburgh.

Features

Wahlenbergia roxburghii was a shrub, which reached a plant height of 60 to 90 centimeters. The pachycaule tribe was little branched. The young branches were covered with fine hair. The half-sitting finely hairy leaves were 8 to 14 inches long and 2 to 3.5 inches wide. The leaf blade was cuneate - lanceolate or oblong- lanceolate. The leaf margin was cut notched up fine. The inflorescence was a narrow terminal panicle finely hairy. The upright inflorescence axis was hairy and had lanceolate, pointed bracts that were 14 mm long and 2 mm wide. The white flower having a diameter of 10 to 12 mm. The calyx was bare. The ovate - lanceolate, somewhat acute, ganzrandigen Kelchzipfel were 4 to 4.5 mm long and 1 to 1.5 mm wide. The white corolla was deeply five-lobed. The elongated flower tube and the corolla lobes were about 5 mm long. The elongated ovary was zweikammerig. The fruit capsule was elongated inverted - cone-shaped.

Occurrence

Wahlenbergia roxburghii occurred in the central mountains of St. Helena. Documented localities are the thicket forests on the southern slopes of the Diana 's Peak, the dense forests on Halley 's Mount and the Sandy Bay Mountain Range near Taylor 's Flat.

Extinction

Wahlenbergia roxburghii has been demonstrated most recently in 1872 by John Charles Melliss. Possible causes for their extinction were the destruction of vegetation by goats and the displacement by the New Zealand flax ( Phormium tenax ).