Thomasia discolor is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, compact shrub with hairy new growth, heart-shaped leaves with wavy, lobed edges, and pink flowers in crowded clusters.
Thomasia discolor is a compact shrub that typically grows to high, wide and has its young growth covered with rust-coloured, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are heart-shaped to oval, long and wide on a petiole up to long. The edges of the leaves are wavy and lobed, the lower surface densely covered with white or rust-coloured, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in crowded racemes of up to 10, each flower on a pedicel long, with hairy bracteoles at the base. The sepals are pink, up to long, but there are no petals. Flowering occurs from September to December.[1]
Thomasia discolor was first formally described in 1845 by Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae from specimens collected in 1840.[2] [3] The specific epithet (discolor) means "variegated", referring to the leaves.[4]
This thomasia grows in coastal heath in moist places, hill slopes and tops in the Esperance Plains and Jarrah Forest bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[1]
Thomasia discolor is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.