Prostanthera prostantheroides explained

Prostanthera prostantheroides is a plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a shrub with heart-shaped to round leaves and usually white flowers with purple spots inside the petal tube.

Description

Prostanthera prostantheroides is a small shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has stems that become spiny with age. The leaves are heart-shaped to round, long and about wide on a very short petiole. The flowers are arranged at the ends of the branches on pedicels long with bracteoles long at the base but that fall off as the flower develops. The sepals form a tube long with two lobes, the upper lobe about wide and the lower lobe about wide. The petals are long, white with purple, mauve to violet or red spots inside, and form a tube about long. The lower middle lobe is about wide and the side lobes are about long and wide, the upper lobes long and wide. Flowering occurs in August, September or October.[1]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1876 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Wrixonia prostantheroides in his book Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae, based on plant material collected from the vicinity of Mount Churchman by Jess Young.[2] [3] In 2012, Trevor Wilson, Murray Henwood and Barry Conn changed the name to Prostanthera prostantheroides in the journal Telopea.[4] [5]

Distribution

Prostanthera prostantheroides occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of Western Australia.

Conservation status

This mintbush is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

Notes and References

  1. Carrick . John . Studies in Australian Lamiaceae 1. The genus Wrixonia F.Muell. (Prostantheroideae). . Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens . 1976 . 1 . 1 . 28–30 . 19 September 2020.
  2. Web site: Wrixonia prostantheroides . Australian Plant Name Index . 19 September 2020.
  3. Book: von Mueller . Ferdinand . Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae . 1876 . 10 . Victorian Government Printer . Melbourne . 18–19 . 19 September 2020.
  4. Web site: Prostenthera prostantheroides . Australian Plant Name Index . 19 September 2020.
  5. Wilson, T.C., Henwood, M.J. & Conn, B.J.. 2012. Status of the genus Wrixonia F.Muell. (Lamiaceae). Telopea. 14. 2–3. 10.7751/telopea2012001 . free.