Lechenaultia acutiloba explained

Lechenaultia acutiloba, commonly known as wingless leschenaultia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a dome-shaped shrub with crowded, linear leaves and many tube-shaped, pale greenish-yellow flowers with blue tips.

Description

Lechenaultia acutiloba is a dome-shaped shrub that typically grows up to high and wide, often with many thin stems. Its leaves are crowded, linear, glabrous long and greyish green. There are many sessile flowers arranged singly on the ends of branchlets with glabrous, lance-shaped sepals long. The petals form an erect, greenish-yellow tube with blue tips long, the tube white and hairy inside. Flowering occurs from mid-September to late December.[1] [2]

Taxonomy

Lechenaultia acutiloba was first formally described in 1868 by George Bentham in Flora Australiensis from specimens collected near the Young River by George Maxwell.[3] [4] The specific epithet (acutiloba) means "sharp-pointed lobes", referring to the petals.[5]

Distribution and habitat

Wingless leschenaultia usually grows near river banks, sometimes in swamps and is found between Ongerup and Ravensthorpe in the Esperance Plains and Mallee biogeographic regions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

Lechenaultia acutiloba 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.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Morrison . David A. . George . Alex S. . Lechenaultia biloba . Curtis's Botanical Magazine . 2004 . 21 . 2 . 111–113 . 19 January 2022.
  2. Web site: Lechenaultia acutiloba . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 19 January 2022.
  3. Web site: Lechenaultia acutiloba. APNI. 19 January 2022.
  4. Book: Bentham . George . von Mueller . Ferdinand . Flora Australiensis . 4 . 1868 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 41 . 19 January 2022.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 127 . 3rd.
  6. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 20 January 2022.