Petrophile ericifolia explained

Petrophile ericifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a shrub with cylindrical leaves, and oval to spherical heads of hairy, yellow flowers.

Description

Petrophile ericifolia is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has branchlets and leaves that are sometimes covered with curly hairs when young but that become glabrous with age. The leaves are cylindrical, up to long with a rough surface. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets, in sessile, oval to spherical heads in diameter, with many egg-shaped, pointed involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are long, yellow and hairy. Flowering occurs from August to November and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval head up to in diameter.^[1]

Taxonomy

Petrophile ericifolia was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the Supplementum to his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen from material collected by William Baxter near King Georges Sound in 1829.^{[2] [3]} The specific epithet (ericifolia) means "erica-leaved".^[4]

In 1995, Donald Bruce Foreman described two subspecies in Flora of Australia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Petrophile ericifolia R.Br. subsp. ericifolia^[5] has more or less glabrous leaves up to long, flower heads in diameter and flowers up to long;^[6]
• Petrophile ericifolia subsp. subpubescens (Domin) Foreman^[7] has leaves up to long with a medium to sparse covering of short hairs, flower heads about in diameter and flowers long.^[8] Subspecies subpubescens was first formally described in 1923 by Karel Domin as Petrophile ericifolia f. subpubescens.^[9]

Distribution and habitat

Subspecies ericifolia grows in heath and scrub from the Fitzgerald River National Park to the Stirling Range and inland to Wagin. Subspecies subpubescens grows in low shrubland mostly between Northam and Kellerberrin.

Conservation status

Both subspecies of Petrophile ericifolia are classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Foreman . David B. . Petrophile ericifolia . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 11 December 2020.
2. Web site: Petrophile ericifolia. APNI. 11 December 2020.
3. Book: Brown. Robert. Supplementum primum prodromi florae Novae Hollandiae . 1830. London. 5 . 16 December 2020.
4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 193 . 3rd.
5. Web site: Petrophile ericifolia subsp. ericifolia. Australian Plant Census. 11 December 2020.
6. Web site: Foreman . David B. . Petrophile ericifolia subsp. ericifolia . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 11 December 2020.
7. Web site: Petrophile ericifolia subsp. subpubescens. Australian Plant Census. 11 December 2020.
8. Web site: Foreman . David B. . Petrophile ericifolia subsp. subpubescens . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 11 December 2020.
9. Web site: Petrophile ericifolia f. subpubescens. APNI. 11 December 2020.