Brachyloma baxteri explained

Brachyloma baxteri is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect or diffuse shrub with linear leaves and red, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

Brachyloma baxteri is an erect or diffuse shrub that usually grows to a height of and has softly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are linear, up to long, with the edges curved downwards and a small hard point on the tip. The flowers are sessile with bracts up to long and bracteoles nearly long at the base. The petals are joined to form a red tube long with erect, glabrous, linear lobes about long. The fruit is a spherical drupe that is shorter than the sepals.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described 1839 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham who gave it the name Astroloma baxteri. De Candolle's description was published in Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis.[2] [3] In 2016, Caroline Puente-Lelievre changed the name to Brachyloma baxteri in Australian Systematic Botany.[4] The specific epithet (baxteri) honours the plant collector William Baxter.[5]

Distribution

Brachyloma baxteri occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Bentham . George . Flora Australiensis . 4 . 1868 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 157–158 . 12 September 2023.
  2. Web site: Astroloma baxteri . Australian Plant Name Index . 12 September 2023.
  3. Book: de Candolle . Augustin P. . de Candolle . Alphonse . Prodromus systematis naturalis regni vegetabilis, sive, Enumeratio contracta ordinum generum specierumque plantarum huc usque cognitarium, juxta methodi naturalis, normas digesta . 7 . 1839 . Paris . 739 . 12 September 2023.
  4. Web site: Brachyloma baxteri . Australian Plant Name Index . 12 September 2023.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 144 . 3rd.