Thomasia multiflora explained

Thomasia multiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with broadly egg-shaped leaves and mauve flowers.

Description

Thomasia multiflora is a spreading shrub that typically grows to high and wide, its new growth densely covered with star-shaped hairs. The leaves are broadly egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long with wing-like stipules at the base of the petioles. The flowers are in diameter and arranged in racemes of 6 to 12 on a hairy peduncle long. Each flower is on a short pedicel with hairy, linear bracteoles at the base. The sepals are mauve, joined for about half their length, and there are no petals.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

Thomasia multiflora was first formally described in 1904 by Ernst Georg Pritzel in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie from specimens collected near King George Sound.[2] [3] The specific epithet (multiflora) means "many-flowered".

Distribution and habitat

This thomasia grows in shrubland and woodland in winter-wet areas and on granite outcrops from near Walpole to Albany in the Esperance Plains bioregion of south-western Western Australia.[1]

Conservation status

Thomasia multiflora is classified as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Blake . Trevor L. . Lantern bushes of Australia; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide . 2021 . Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group . Victoria . 9780646839301 . 40–41.
  2. Web site: Thomasia multiflora . Australian Plant Name Index . 22 January 2023.
  3. Pritzel . Ernst G. . Engler . Adolf . Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae occidentalis. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Pflanzen Westaustraliens, ihrer Verbreitung und ihrer Lebensverhaltnisse. . Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie . 1904 . 35 . 2–3 . 375 . 3 January 2023.
  4. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 22 January 2023.