Prostanthera behriana explained

Prostanthera behriana, commonly known as tall mintbush,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-east of South Australia. It is an erect to straggling shrub with egg-shaped leaves and white, pale blue, pale violet or purplish white flowers with red-brown spots or purple streaks inside.

Description

Prostanthera behriana is an erect or straggling shrub that typically grows to a height of with flattened, hairy stems. The leaves are egg-shaped, or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, light to mid-green, long, wide and sessile. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf two to fourteen leaf axils near the ends of branchlets, each flower on a pedicel long. The sepals are light green and form a tube long with two lobes, the lower lobe long and about wide, the upper lobe long and wide. The petals are, white, pale blue, pale violet or purplish white with red-brown spots or purple streaks inside, and fused to form a tube long. The lower lip has three lobes, the centre lobe spatula-shaped, long and wide and the side lobes long and wide. The upper lip has two broadly egg-shaped lobes long and about wide.[2] [3]

Taxonomy

Prostanthera behriana was first formally described in 1847 by Schlechtendal in the journal Linnaea from specimens collected by Hans Hermann Behr.[4] [5]

Distribution and habitat

Tall mintbush grows in heath and woodland from the lower Flinders Ranges, through the Mount Lofty Ranges to south of Keith.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Prostanthera behriana (Labiatae) Tall Mintbush . South Australian Seed Conservation Service . 22 August 2020.
  2. Conn . Barry J. . A taxonomic revision of Prostanthera Labill. Section Prostanthera (Labiatae). 1. The species of the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. . Nuytsia . 1988 . 6 . 3 . 377–380 . 22 August 2020.
  3. Web site: Prostanthera behriana . State Herbarium of South Australia . 22 August 2020.
  4. Web site: Prostanthera behriana. 22 August 2020.
  5. von Schlechtendal . Diederich . Sudaustralische Pflanzen. II. Bestimmung und Beschreibung der von Dr Behr in Sudaustralien gesammelten Pflanzen. . Linnaea: Ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde . 1847 . 20 . 610–611 . 22 August 2020.