Petrophile seminuda explained

Petrophile seminuda is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a shrub with needle-shaped, sharply-pointed leaves usually divided into two or three lobes, and heads of yellow flowers.

Description

Petrophile seminuda is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and usually has glabrous branchlets and leaves. The leaves are needle-shaped, sharply-pointed, long, usually divided into two or three lobes long. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in spherical or oval heads long with many egg-shaped to lance-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are long, yellow and glabrous. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval or almost spherical head long.[1]

Taxonomy

Petrophile seminuda was first formally described in 1840 by John Lindley in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.[2] [3] The specific epithet (seminuda) means "half-bare", referring to the bracts.[4]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile is mostly found in woodland, shrubland and heath on sandplains and ridges, growing in sandy-loamy soils over laterite. It is widely distributed between Geraldton, the Fitzgerald River National Park and the Darling Range to near Southern Cross.

Conservation status

Petrophile seminuda 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 seminuda . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 6 January 2021.
  2. Web site: Petrophile seminuda. APNI. 6 January 2021.
  3. Book: Lindley . John . A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony . 1840 . James Ridgway . London . xxxiv . 15 December 2020.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 304–305 . 3rd.