Eremophila victoriae explained

Eremophila victoriae is small shrub with sessile, egg-shaped leaves and purple flowers and that is endemic to Western Australia. It is only known from two populations in the Great Victoria Desert.

Description

Eremophila victoriae is a shrub that typically grows to high and wide. Its branches are grey and covered with glandular hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately, sessile, sticky, egg-shaped with thickened edges, long and wide. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a pedicel long that is covered with glandular hairs. There are five lance-shaped to egg-shaped, brownish green sepals that are long, wide and partly covered with glandular hairs. The petal tube is purple, long, covered with glandular hairs on the outside but glabrous inside. The four stamens are enclosed in the petal tube with glandular hairs on the filaments. Flowering mainly occurs from August to October but also at other times after rainfall.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 2016 by Bevan Buirchell and Andrew Phillip Brown in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected in the Great Vicotria Desert in 2010.[2] The specific epithet (victoriae) is a reference to the type location.[3]

Distribution and habitat

Eremophila victoriae is only known from two populations in the Great Victoria Desert where it grows in mulga country.

Conservation

Eremophila victoriae classified as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Buirchell . Bevan . Brown . Andrew P. . New species of Eremophila (Scrophulariaceae): thirteen geographically restricted species from Western Australia . Nuytsia . 2016 . 27 . 279–281. 10 April 2020.
  2. Web site: Eremophila victoriae. APNI. 10 April 2020.
  3. Book: Francis Aubie Sharr. Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, Western Australia . 9780958034180 . 335.
  4. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 10 April 2020.