''Pityrodia'' 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 ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the mint

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), 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 (herb), ba ...

and 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 ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, most species occurring in

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 ...

, a few in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

and one in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Plants in this genus are shrubs with five

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 joined to form a tube-shaped flower with four

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 of unequal lengths.

Description

Plants in the genus ''Pityrodia'' are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

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 with erect, usually cylindrical branches. The leaves are simple, net-veined and their bases partly wrap around the stem (

decurrent ''Decurrent'' (sometimes decurring) is a term used in botany and mycology to describe plant or fungal parts that extend downward. In botany, the term is most often applied to leaf blades that partly wrap or have wings around the stem or petio ...

). The flowers may occur singly or in groups and exhibit left-right symmetry. There are 5

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s which are joined at their bases and 5 petals joined to form a tube. The tube may have 5, unequally sized lobes at the tip or two "lips" - the upper lip having two lobes and the lower one three. There are four stamens with one pair longer than the other. The fruit is a

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

containing up to four seeds.

Taxonomy and naming

The genus was first described by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

in 1810. Brown published his description in ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a book by the botanist Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and ...

'' and designated '' Pityrodia salvifolia'' as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The name ''Pityrodia'' is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

word meaning "scale-like". ''Pityrodia'' was originally included in the

Verbenaceae The Verbenaceae ( ), the verbena family or vervain family, is a family of mainly tropical flowering plants. It contains trees, shrubs, and herbs notable for heads, spikes, or clusters of small flowers, many of which have an aromatic smell. T ...

. In a review of the genus in 1979, Ahmad Abid Munir included ''Pityrodia'' and nine other genera in a family Chloanthaceae, all endemic to Australia and sometimes referred to as "Australian Verbenaceae". The name Chloanthaceae has not been widely adopted and ''Pityrodia'' is now included in the Lamiaceae.

Distribution

In his 1979 paper, Munir described 27 species from Western Australia, 16 from the Northern Territory and one from Queensland, but in 2011, Barry Conn, Murray Henwood and Nicola Streiber transferred some species to '' Dasymalla'', ''

Hemiphora ''Hemiphora'' is a genus of five species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. Plants in this genus are woolly shrubs with warty, hairy leaves and with five petals joined to form a tube-shaped f ...

'' and '' Quoya'' and raised a new genus '' Muniria'' to which four species of the former ''Pityrodia'' were transferred. A new species from Western Australia, ('' Pityrodia iphthima'') has since been described. The following is a list of ''Pityrodia'' species accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

as at February 2023: *'' Pityrodia augustensis'' Munir - Mt. Augustus foxglove ( W.A. *'' Pityrodia byrnesii'' Munir ( N.T.) *'' Pityrodia canaliculata'' A.S.George (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia chrysocalyx'' (F.Muell.) C.A.Gardner (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia gilruthiana'' Munir (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia hemigenioides'' (F.Muell.) Benth. (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia iphthima'' K.A.Sheph. (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia jamesii'' Specht (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia lanuginosa'' Munir (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia lepidota'' (F.Muell.) E.Pritz. (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia loricata'' (F.Muell.) E.Pritz. (W.A., N.T., S.A.) *'' Pityrodia obliqua'' W.Fitzg. (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia puberula'' Munir (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia pungens'' Munir (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia salvifolia'' R.Br. ( Qld.) *'' Pityrodia scabra'' A.S.George (W.A.) *'' Pityrodia serrata'' Munir (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia spenceri'' Munir (N.T.) *'' Pityrodia ternifolia'' (F.Muell.) Munir (W.A., N.T.) *'' Pityrodia viscida'' W.Fitzg. (W.A.)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7199568 Lamiaceae genera Lamiales of Australia