''Astartea'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of flowering plants 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 ...

. The genus 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 ...

southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

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 ...

. The genus name was inspired by

Astarte Astarte (; , ) is the Greek language, Hellenized form of the Religions of the ancient Near East, Ancient Near Eastern goddess ʿAṯtart. ʿAṯtart was the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic equivalent of the East Semitic language ...

, the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

name for the goddess

Ishtar Inanna is the List of Mesopotamian deities, ancient Mesopotamian goddess of war, love, and fertility. She is also associated with political power, divine law, sensuality, and procreation. Originally worshipped in Sumer, she was known by the Akk ...

.''Astartea'' DC.
FloraBase. Western Australian Herbarium.

Description

These plants take various forms, from dwarf

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 ...

s barely 10 centimetres tall to small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s exceeding 5 metres in height. Some have

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a respons ...

s and some produce

basal shoot Basal shoots, root sprouts, adventitious shoots, and suckers are words for various kinds of shoots that grow from adventitious buds on the base of a tree or shrub, or from adventitious buds on its roots. Shoots that grow from buds on the base of ...

s. They are hairless and often glandular, sometimes with protruding oil glands on various parts. New stems are four-angled and sometimes winged.Rye, B. L. (2013)
A revision of the south-western Australian genus ''Astartea'' (Myrtaceae: Chamelaucieae).
''Nuytsia'' 23, 189-269. The leaves are often arranged in fascicles, with clusters of leaves along younger branches. The thick leaves are narrow, often widest toward the tips, and are smooth-edged. Most species have solitary flowers in the leaf axils. The buds are enfolded in a pair of

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

eoles which usually fall away as the flower blooms. Most plants have five-parted flowers. Six-parted flowers may occur, and four parted, late-opening flowers may be produced when a plant is stressed. Layers of

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 unfold in an opening bud, leaving the inner ones crinkled. ''A. arbuscula'' has the smallest petals, each about half a millimetre long. The petals of ''A. granitica'' are among the largest, each about 6 millimetres long. Each species generally has flowers either in shades of white to pale pink, or shades of pale to medium pink. Some individuals of ''A. arbuscula'' have deep pink flowers. Some plants have just a few

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 per flower, while others have up to 60. This varies across species, but also within species and even among flowers on one individual. A few species also have

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

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

elongates as the flower matures, and the tip is a dark red colour while the base is paler. The fruit is a woody capsule. The fruit of some species is

dehiscent Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that op ...

, breaking open to release the seeds, while others are indehiscent. There are one to many seeds per fruit. Most are about one millimetre long. Species native to drier habitats tend to have thick-coated seeds. There may also be

chaff Chaff (; ) is dry, scale-like plant material such as the protective seed casings of cereal grains, the scale-like parts of flowers, or finely chopped straw. Chaff cannot be digested by humans, but it may be fed to livestock, ploughed into soil ...

. Species in this genus can be variable across individuals and populations. Variation can be caused by genetics, environmental factors such as rainfall, disturbances such as fires, and microhabitat differences. Plants also vary seasonally.

Ecology

These plants are mostly found in damp areas, such as puddly rock outcroppings and the margins of waterways. Some grow in

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and on

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s. Most species are

insect-pollinated Entomophily or insect pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen of plants, especially but not only of flowering plants, is distributed by insects. Flowers pollinated by insects typically advertise themselves with bright colours, somet ...

. Native

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...

s and jewel beetles are commonly observed on the flowers. ''Astartea'' flower in summer, when many other plants have finished their flowering periods, so the genus may provide an important source of summer food for

nectar Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by Plant, plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollination, pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to an ...

-feeding insects. Many

sap Sap is a fluid transported in the xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a s ...

-feeding insects can be found on the plants, including

mirid bugs The Miridae are a large and diverse insect family at one time known by the Synonym (taxonomy), taxonomic synonym Capsidae. Species in the family may be referred to as capsid bugs or "mirid bugs". Common names include plant bugs, leaf bugs, and g ...

and

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

l felt scales. ''Astartea'' often have

gall Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or war ...

s, which are probably formed by

wasp A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...

taxa. Some species have seeds that may be adapted to dispersal by

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

Cultivation

''Astartea'' are not difficult to grow, and even have the potential to become

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. Pla ...

y upon escape from cultivation.

Cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s developed for

ornamental Ornamental may refer to: *Ornamental grass, a type of grass grown as a decoration *Ornamental iron, mild steel that has been formed into decorative shapes, similar to wrought iron work *Ornamental plant, a plant that is grown for its ornamental qua ...

use include ''Astartea'' 'Winter Pink'.

Diversity

In a 2013 taxonomic revision of the genus, 22 species were recognized. ;SpeciesKew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>

Formerly included

*''

Cyathostemon ambiguus ''Cyathostemon ambiguus'' is a member of the family Myrtaceae endemic to Western Australia. It is found in an area along the south coast extending from the Great Southern and into the south western Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Austr ...

'' (as ''A. ambigua'') *''

Cyathostemon heterantherus ''Cyathostemon'' is a genus of flowering plants in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. The genus is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It was first described by Nikolai Turczaninow Nikolai Stepanovich Turczaninow (; 1796 – ) was a Ru ...

'' (as ''A. heteranthera'') *'' Seorsus clavifolius'' (as ''A. clavifolia'') *'' Seorsus intratropicus'' (as ''A. intratropica'')

Gallery

Astartea sp. Gingalup (6725215533).jpg, ''Astartea'' sp. Gingalup Astartea sp. Bungalbin Hill (8867110468).jpg, ''Astartea'' sp. Bungalbin Astartea schaueri - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg, ''Astartea schaueri'' Astartea fascicularis 7709.jpg, ''Astartea fascicularis''

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q2711268 Myrtaceae genera Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Astarte Endemic flora of Southwest Australia