Cryptandra triplex

Cryptandra triplex is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to the north of the Northern Territory. It is a hairy shrub with narrowly elliptic to lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves and white to cream-coloured or yellowish, tube-shaped flowers arranged singly or in groups of up to 5 in leaf axils, near the ends of branches.

Description
Cryptandra triplex is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 1.2 m, its young stems, leaves and flowers densely covered with greyish, star-shaped hairs. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic to egg-shaped or lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, mostly 10–22 mm long and 3–6 mm wide on a petiole 0.5–2 mm long with linear or narrowly triangular stipules 2.0–3.5 mm long at the base. The flowers are borne singly or in groups of up to 5 in leaf axils near the ends of branches with egg-shaped bracts 0.6–1 mm long at the base. The flowers are white to cream-coloured or yellowish, the sepals 1.0–1.2 mm long and the floral tube 0.4–0.6 mm long. The petals are 0.8–1 mm long and hooded, the stamens 0.8–0.9 mm long. Flowering occurs from February to April, and the fruit is an oval schizocarp 1.6–2.2 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Cryptandra triplex was first formally described in 2006 by Jürgen Kellermann in the journal Austrobaileya from an unpublished description by Kevin Thiele of specimens collected by Lyndley Craven near east Jabiru in 1981. The specific epithet (triplex) means "threefold", referring to the 3 carpels in the ovary.

Distribution and habitat
This cryptandra grows in shrubland and woodland on sandstone plateaux and rock outcrops, and is only known from Nitmiluk and Kakadu National Parks.