Petrophile scabriuscula explained

Petrophile scabriuscula is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a dense, prickly shrub with sharply-pointed, needle-shaped leaves more or less pressed against the branchlets, and oval heads of hairy, yellow to creamy-yellow flowers.

Description

Petrophile scabriuscula is a dense, prickly shrub that typically grows to a height of and has softly hairy young branchlets that become glabrous with age. The leaves are needle-shaped, sharply-pointed, long, more or less pressed against the branchlets and softly hairy. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in sessile, oval heads up to in diameter, with many overlapping involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are long, yellow to creamy-yellow and hairy. Flowering occurs from May to October and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a spherical to oval head about in diameter.[1] [2]

Taxonomy

Petrophile scabriuscula was first formally described in 1845 by Carl Meissner in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's book Plantae Preissianae from material collected by James Drummond near the Swan River.[3] [4] The specific epithet (scabriuscula) means "minutely scabrous".[5]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in sandy woodland from Kalbarri National Park to near Moora in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.

Conservation status

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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Foreman . David B. . Petrophile scabriuscula . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 4 January 2021.
  2. 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 . 52–53 . 4 January 2021.
  3. Web site: Petrophile scabriuscula. APNI. 4 January 2021.
  4. Book: Meissner . Carl . Lehmann . Johann G.C. . Plantae Preissianae . 1845 . Sumptibus Meissneri,1844-1847 [1848] . Hamburg . 495–495 . 4 January 2021.
  5. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 301 . 3rd.