Thomasia sarotes explained

Thomasia sarotes is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae. It is an upright, spreading shrub with purple, pink to mauve or white flowers and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia.

Description

Thomasia sarotes is an upright, spreading shrub that typically grows to high and wide, its new growth covered with long, fine hairs. The leaves are linear, long and wide on a short petiole with linear stipules long at the base. The flowers are borne in groups of 2 to 5 on the ends of branches or in upper leaf axils on a peduncle about long, each flower on a pendent pedicel long with linear bracteoles at the base. The flowers are about in diameter, the sepals purple, pink to mauve or white, and the petals tiny. Flowering occurs from August to December.[1]

Taxonomy and naming

The species was first formally described in 1852 by botanist Nikolai Turczaninow and the description was published in the Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou.[2] [3] The specific epithet (sarotes) means "broom like".[4]

Distribution and habitat

This thomasia grows in clay, sand, granitic and rocky soils on low ridges and dunes in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie and Mallee.

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 . 62–63.
  2. Web site: Thomasia sarotes . Australian Plant Name Index . 25 February 2023.
  3. Turczaninow . Nikolai . Thomasia sarotes . Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou . 1852 . 25 . 3 . 145 . 9 November 2022.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 310 . 3rd.