''Astartea fascicularis'' is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of flowering plant in the myrtle family,

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to southwestern

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, where it is widespread in the

Recherche Archipelago The Archipelago of the Recherche, known locally as the Bay of Isles, is a group of 105 islands, and over 1200 "obstacles to shipping", off the south coast of Western Australia. The islands stretch from east to west and to off-shore encomp ...

and present on the mainland in

Cape Le Grand National Park Cape Le Grand National Park is a national park in Western Australia, south-east of Perth and east of Esperance. The park covers an area of The area is an ancient landscape which has been above sea level for well over 200 million years and ...

. It is commonly known as Recherche astartea.Rye, B. L. (2013)
A revision of the south-western Australian genus ''Astartea'' (Myrtaceae: Chamelaucieae).
''Nuytsia'' 23, 189-269. or false baeckea.

Description

This species is a

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

usually reaching up to 1.5 metres tall at windy sites and about 3 metres in maximum height in sheltered areas. It may have single or multiple stems and may layer. New stems are reddish in colour and ridged or winged. Older stems are grey, developing reddish and grey stripes, and more deeply ridged. The leaves are often arranged in fascicles. The leaf blades may be as thick or thicker than they are wide, and reach 1.2 centimetres long. The flowers are paired along the branches. The

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

s are usually white, or sometimes pale pink. The flower contains clusters of several

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s and usually a few

staminode In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which means that it does not produce pollen.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; ''A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co ...

s. The fruit capsule is 2 or 3 millimetres long.

Distribution

It has a scattered distribution in the

South West Southwest is a compass point. Southwest, south-west, south west, southwestern or south-western or south western may also refer to: * Southwest (direction), an intercardinal direction Geography *South West Queensland, Australia *South West (Weste ...

, Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia where it is often found along watercourses and in winter wet depressions growing in sandy and

lateritic Laterite is a soil 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 intensive and prolo ...

soils. This shrub grows on

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

substrates. It occurs in exposed coastal habitat and more protected inland scrubs.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q8207394 fascicularis Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1828 Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière