''Hemiphora uncinata'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

in the mint

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savo ...

and is endemic to the south-west of

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 an erect, spreading shrub with its branches densely covered with white, woolly hairs. Its leaves are rough and wrinkled and the flowers are tube-shaped with deep pink

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

s with wavy edges.

Description

''Hemiphora uncinata'' is an erect, spreading shrub which grows to a height of with its branches covered with white, cottony hairs. The leaves are linear to lance-shaped, long, wide, with their edges curved downwards or under and often have a hooked tip. The upper surface is rough and wrinkled with small blisters and the lower surface is covered with woolly hairs at least when young. The flowers are deep pink and are arranged singly or in groups of up to three on woolly stalks long, in upper 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, ...

s. There are bracts long at the base of the flowers and which are glabrous on the inner surface and densely woolly outside, and there are shorter, glabrous bracteoles. The five

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 are long, and joined at their base to form a short tube. The sepals are woolly on the outside, linear to lance-shaped and remain attached to the plant after the petals have fallen. The petals are long and joined to form a wide tube long and wide at the top end. The petal tube has soft hairs on the outside but glabrous inside except for a densely hairy ring above the

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the bod ...

. The five petal lobes form two "lips", the upper lip with two lobes joined for most of their length and the lower with three spreading lobes. The five lobes have wavy or irregularly notched edges and are roughly circular in shape, in diameter. The four

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 filam ...

s are shorter than the petal tube with the lower pair much longer than the upper pair. Flowering occurs in spring and the fruit is almost spherical, hairy, veiny and in diameter. This species is similar to '' Hemiphora exserta'' but has its stamens short and enclosed in the petal tube.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1863 by Nikolai Turczaninow who gave it the name ''Chloanthes uncinata''. The description was published in ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'' from a specimen collected by James Drummond. In 1870

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

changed the name to ''Pityrodia uncinata'' and in 2011, Barry Conn, Murray Henwood and Nicola Streiber transferred four species, including this one, from the genus ''

Pityrodia ''Pityrodia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae and is endemic to Australia, most species occurring in Western Australia, a few in the Northern Territory and one in Queensland. Plants in this genus are shrubs ...

'' into ''Hemiphora''. The specific epithet (''uncinata'') is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

word meaning "hooked".

Distribution and habitat

''Hemiphora uncinata'' is mainly found in near-coastal areas between

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

and the Murchison River, but there are disjunct populations near Gairdner and between Hyden and

Lake Cronin Lake Cronin is an ephemeral freshwater lake in the Shire of Kondinin as part of the Great Western Woodlands in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia located approximately east of the town of Hyden and about east south east of Perth. Th ...

, in the Geraldton Sandplains and

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 geo ...

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 ...

where it grows in sandy clay in depressions that are sometimes flooded in winter.

Conservation

''Hemiphora uncinata'' 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

External links

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image of ''Hemiphora uncinata'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q28428565 uncinata Plants described in 1863 Flora of Western Australia Taxa named by George Bentham