''Cyanothamnus defoliatus'' is a plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a straggly shrub with simple, thread-like leaves and white to pink, four-

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

led flowers that are pale blue on the back.

Description

''Cyanothamnus defoliatus'' is a straggly shrub with thin stems and that grows to a height of about . Its branches and leaves are glabrous. The leaves are simple, often fall off early and thread-like or more or less thin cylindrical, about long. The flowers are borne in branching groups on the ends of the branches and in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s on thin pedicels long. The four sepals are broadly egg-shaped and leathery, about long. The four petals are elliptic, white to pink on the upper surface and pale blue with a darker strip below and long. The eight

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s have woolly hairs and the style is thin with a minute stigma. Flowering occurs from September to October.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1875 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

who gave it the name ''Boronia defoliata'' in '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae''. 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 ...

specimen was collected by James Drummond. In a 2013 paper in the journal '' Taxon'', Marco Duretto and others changed the name to ''Cyanothamnus defoliatus'' on the basis of cladistic analysis. 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 ...

(''defoliatus'') means "without leaves".

Distribution and habitat

''Cyanothamnus defoliatus'' grows in sand, gravel and

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

between

Capel Capel may refer to: People *Capell, surname, includes a list of people with the surnames Capel and Capell *Capel (given name), includes a list of people with the given name Capel Places England *Capel, Kent, a village and civil parish near T ...

and Manjimup in the Jarrah Forest, Mallee,

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

and Warren

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

Conservation

''Cyanothamnus defoliatus'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and en ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q106901958 defoliatus Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1875 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller