''Prostanthera canaliculata'' 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, savo ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, erect shrub with hairy branchlets, narrow egg-shaped to narrow elliptical leaves and pale blue or pale violet to white flowers with no markings.

Description

''Prostanthera canaliculata'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has branchlets that are usually whitish due to a dense covering of white hairs. The leaves are narrow egg-shaped to narrow elliptical, densely hairy, silvery green or green, long, wide and

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

or on a petiole up to long. The flowers are arranged singly in two to sixteen leaf axils near the ends of branchlets, each flower on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. The

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 green with a mauve to purple tinge and form a tube long with two lobes, the lower lobe long and the upper lobe long. The petals are pale blue or pale violet to white without markings, 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 wide. Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera canaliculata'' was first formally described in 1868 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vic ...

in his book '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae''.

Distribution and habitat

This mintbush grows on sandy rises, sandplains and on granite outcrops in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is ...

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is '' Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is ...

, Mallee 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 ...

biographic regions of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Prostanthera canaliculata'' 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=Q15355308 canaliculata Flora of Western Australia Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1868