''Prostanthera albiflora'' is a species of flowering plant in the family
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, savory ...
and is
endemic to inland areas of Western Australia. It is an erect, spreading shrub with narrow egg-shaped to narrow elliptical leaves and two to twelve white flowers with pale blue spots inside and arranged in the upper leaf axils.
Description
''Prostanthera albiflora'' is an erect, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of with stems that are square in cross-section. The leaves are usually narrow egg-shaped to narrow elliptical, light green, long and wide on a
petiole long. The flowers are arranged singly in two to twelve of the upper leaf axils, each flower on a
pedicel long. The
sepals form a tube long with two lobes, the lower lobe long and the upper lobe long. The petals are white with pale blue spots inside and fused to form a tube long. The lower lip has three lobes, the centre lobe spatula-shaped, long and wide and the side lobes long and wide. The upper lip has two lobes long and about wide. Flowering occurs in April or from August to October.
Taxonomy
''Prostanthera albiflora'' was first formally described in 1988 by
Barry Conn in the journal ''
Nuytsia'' from specimens collected between
Agnew and
Wiluna in 1975.
Distribution and habitat
This mintbush grows along watercourses in the
Carnarvon,
Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Ga ...
,
Little Sandy Desert
The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is a desert region in the state of Western Australia, lying to the east of the Pilbara and north of the Gascoyne regions. It is part of the Western Desert cultural region, and was declared an interim Australian ...
,
Murchison,
Pilbara and
Yalgoo 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 ...
of inland Western Australia.
Conservation status
''Prostanthera albiflora'' 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=Q15355151
albiflora
Flora of Western Australia
Lamiales of Australia
Taxa named by Barry John Conn
Plants described in 1988