Petrophile trifurcata explained

Petrophile trifurcata 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 three-lobed, needle-shaped, sharply-pointed leaves, and spherical heads of hairy, yellow flowers.

Description

Petrophile trifurcata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy young branchlets that become glabrous as they age. The leaves are long and needle-shaped, mostly with three sharply-pointed lobes up to long. The flowers are arranged at the ends of branchlets in sessile, spherical heads in diameter, with egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are about long, yellow and hairy. Flowering has been observed in September and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a spherical head about in diameter.[1] [2]

Taxonomy

Petrophile trifurcata was first formally described in 1995 by Donald Bruce Foreman in Flora of Australia from material collected near Wongan Hills in 1983.[3] The specific epithet (trifurcata) means "three-forked", referring to the three-pronged leaves.[4]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile is only known from a few locations near Wongan Hills and between Watheroo and Coorow in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions, growing in sandy soil with Actinostrobus arenarius.

Conservation status

This petrophile is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Foreman . David B. . Petrophile trifurcata . Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra . 12 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 . 56–57 . 12 January 2021.
  3. Web site: Petrophile trifurcata. APNI. 12 January 2021.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 327 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 12 January 2021.