Lasiopetalum maxwellii explained

Lasiopetalum maxwellii is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south coast Western Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with hairy young stems, lance-shaped to oblong leaves and white to cream-coloured flowers.

Description

Lasiopetalum maxwellii is a sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy stems. The leaves are lance-shaped to oblong, long and wide and covered with star-shaped hairs. The flowers are borne in loose groups, each flower on a pedicel long with bracteoles long below the base of the sepals. The sepals are cream-coloured or white, long and the petals reduced to small scales or absent. The anthers are long on a filament long. Flowering mainly occurs from September to January.[1]

Taxonomy

Lasiopetalum maxwellii was first formally described in 1881 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected by George Maxwell.[2] The specific epithet (maxwellii) honours the collector of the type specimens.[3]

Distribution and habitat

This lasiopetalum grows on sandy soils of granitic slopes in near-coastal areas of the Esperance Plains biogeographic area of southern Western Australia.

Notes and References

  1. Book: von Mueller . Ferdinand . Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae . 1881 . Victorian Government Printer . London . 107 . 15 March 2022.
  2. Web site: Lasiopetalum maxwellii. APNI. 15 March 2022.
  3. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 249. 3rd.