''Cryptandra craigiae'' is a flowering plant in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae ...

and is endemic to a restricted area of southern

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

. It is a shrub with linear leaves and dense clusters of white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Cryptandra craigiae'' is a spreading shrub that typically grows to high and up to wide, its branchlets becoming spiny as the plant matures. The leaves are narrowly oblong to linear, long and wide, on a petiole long with

stipule In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). Stipules are considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many speci ...

s long at the base. The upper surface of the leaves is more or less

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...

and the edges are turned down or rolled under, often concealing the densely hairy lower surface. The flowers are borne in dense clusters of 4 to 6, in diameter, on the ends of branchlets. The floral tube is about long, the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s long and hairy. Flowering occurs from May to June.

Taxonomy and naming

''Cryptandra craigiae'' was first formally described in 2007 by

Barbara Lynette Rye Barbara Lynette Rye is an Australian botanist born in 1952. Barbara Rye has been associated with the Western Australian Herbarium, where her work as a taxonomist has been the source of many new descriptions of plants. The number of taxa record ...

in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens collected by Gillian Craig north-north-east of Hopetoun in 2005. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''craigiae '') honours the collector of the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimens.

Distribution and habitat

This cryptandra mainly grows on sand dunes in or near swampy areas, but is only known from a small area near Hopetoun in the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is ...

bioregion of southern Western Australia.

Conservation status

This cryptandra is listed as "

Threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government department responsible for managing lands and waters described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'', the ''Rottnest Island ...

, meaning that it is in danger of extinction.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15537308 craigiae Rosales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 2007 Taxa named by Barbara Lynette Rye