Asterolasia pallida explained

Asterolasia pallida is a species of woody, perennial herb that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has elliptical leaves and white flowers arranged in umbels of three to six with star-shaped hairs on the back of the petals and fifteen to twenty-five stamens.

Description

Asterolasia pallida is a woody, perennial herb that typically grows to a height of about and sometimes forms a rhizome. The leaves are elliptical, long and covered with star-shaped hairs on the lower side. The flowers are arranged in umbels of three to six in leaf axils and on the ends of branchlets, each flower on a thin pedicel long. The petals are white, elliptical, long, with rust-coloured and colourless, star-shaped hairs on the back, and there are fifteen to twenty-five stamens.[1]

Taxonomy

Asterolasia pallida was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham and the description was published in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected by James Drummond.[2] [3]

In 1998, Paul Wilson described two subspecies and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

Distribution and habitat

This species grows on laterite in jarrah - marri woodland on the Darling Range from near Perth to Manjimup. Subspecies hyalina is restricted to the Dryandra State Forest.

Conservation status

Asterolasia pallida is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Wilson . Paul G. . Asterolasia pallida . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra . 28 June 2020.
  2. Web site: Asterolasia pallida. APNI. 28 June 2020.
  3. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 1863 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 352 . 28 June 2020.
  4. Web site: Asterolasia pallida subsp. hyalina. Australian Plant Census. 28 June 2020.
  5. Web site: Asterolasia pallida subsp. pallida. Australian Plant Census. 28 June 2020.
  6. Wilson . Paul G. . Nomenclatural notes and new taxa in the genera Asterolasia, Drummondita and Microcybe (Rutaceae: Boronieae). . Nuytsia . 1988 . 12 . 1 . 84–85 . 28 June 2020.