Guichenotia alba explained

Guichenotia alba is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a slender, spreading shrub with lax, hairy young branches, leaves with the edges rolled under, and white flowers.

Description

Guichenotia alba is a slender, spreading shrub that typically grows to high and wide with many stems at the base but few branches. Its young branches are densely covered with woolly, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are long, the edges rolled under, on a petiole long with stipules up to two-thirds the length of the leaves. The leaves are densely woolly-hairy when young, but later glabrous. The flowers are borne singly, in pairs or groups of three, on a peduncle long, each flower on a pedicel long, with narrowly egg-shaped bracts long and bracteoles long at the base. The flowers are bell-shaped with five divided, petal-like sepals long, that are white on the outside, pale green inside. There are five tiny white, scale-like petals and the stamens are red. Flowering occurs in July and August and the fruit is a capsule in diameter.[1] [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Guichenotia alba was first formally described in 1992 by Greg Keighery and the description was published in the journal Nuytsia from specimens he collected near Cataby in 1988.[3] The specific epithet (alba) means "white".[4]

Distribution and habitat

This species of Guichenotia grows in heath, often in winter-wet areas, in a few places between Three Springs and Cataby in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[1] [2]

Conservation status

Guichenotia alba is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Blake . Trevor L. . Lantern bushes of Australia ; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide . 2021 . Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group . Victoria . 9780646839301 . 210–211.
  2. Keighery . Gregory . A new species of Guichenotia (Sterculiaceae) from south western Australia. . Nuytsia . 1992 . 8 . 3 . 320–321 . 18 May 2023.
  3. Web site: Guichenotia alba. APNI. 17 May 2023.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 314 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 18 May 2023.