Thomasia purpurea is a small, flowering shrub in the family Malvaceae that is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It has green oblong-shaped leaves and pinkish purple flowers.
Thomasia purpurea is an upright, slender shrub usually growing to between high, stems covered in star-shaped hairs. It has oblong to narrow-oval shaped leaves, long, wide, hairy especially on the underside and wavy margins. The small flowers are cup-shaped, droopin, borne in clusters of 1–3 at the end of branches, lacking petals and calyx lobes pinkish purple. Flowering occurs between April and December.[1] [2] [3]
The species was first formally described by Swedish botanist Jonas Carlsson Dryander and the description was published in William Aiton's Hortus Kewensis in 1811 as Lasiopetalum purpureum.[4] The type specimen was collected by botanist Robert Brown from King George Sound in 1801. In 1821 French botanist Jacques Etienne Gay placed the species in the genus Thomasia.[5] The specific epithet (purpurea) means "purple".[6]
This species grows in coastal regions of south-west Western Australia on ridges, flat lands, seasonally wet locations and sandy hills.[1]