Petrophile axillaris explained

Petrophile axillaris is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with pinnately-divided, sharply-pointed leaves, and spherical heads of hairy pink or grey flowers.

Description

Petrophile axillaris is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has ribbed, hairy, grey or brown branchlets. The leaves are pinnately-divided to the midrib, long with twenty-five to seventy-six cylindrical, sharply-pointed lobes. The flowers are mostly arranged in leaf axils in more or less spherical heads long and wide, with elliptic to egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are long, pink or grey and hairy. Flowering mainly occurs from September to November and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a spherical to oval head long.[1]

Taxonomy

Petrophile axillaris was first formally described in 1855 by Carl Meissner in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany from material collected by James Drummond.[2] [3] The specific epithet (axillaris) means "axillary", referring to the flowers.[4]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in sandy or gravelly limestone soils in near-coastal areas between Geraldton and Yalgorup National Park and disjunctly in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park in southwestern Western Australia.

Conservation status

Petrophile axillaris is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Notes and References

  1. Rye . Barbara L. . Hislop . Michael C. . Shepherd . Kelly A. . Hollister . Chris . New south-western Australian members of the genus Petrophile (Proteaceae: Petrophileae), including a hybrid . Nuytsia . 2011 . 21 . 2 . 41–45 . 2 December 2020.
  2. Web site: Petrophile axillaris. APNI. 2 December 2020.
  3. Meissner . Carl . New Proteaceae of Australia . Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Gardens Miscellany . 1855 . 7 . 68–69 . 2 December 2020.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 141 . 3rd.