''Thryptomene australis'', commonly known as hook-leaf thryptomene,
is a species of flowering plant in the 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 speci ...
and is
endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, bushy and spreading shrub with upward-pointing leaves with the tip curving outwards, and flowers with white petals arranged spike-like near the ends of the branchlets.
Description
''Thryptomene australis'' is an erect, bushy and spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of with upwards-pointing leaves with the tip curving outwards. The leaves are linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a
petiole long. The flowers are arranged in pairs in up to eleven leaf axils near the end of branchlets. The flowers are diameter with egg-shaped to broadly elliptic white or pale pink
sepals about long and wide. The petals are white, broadly egg-shaped, long, and there are seven to ten
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 filame ...
s. Flowering mainly occurs between July and November and the fruit is a
nut
Nut often refers to:
* Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds
* Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt
Nut or Nuts may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...
about long and wide.
Taxonomy
''Thryptomene australis'' was first formally described in 1838 by
Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher
Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna.
B ...
in ''Stirpium Australasicarum Herbarii Hugeliani Decades Tres'', published in the journal ''Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte'' and was the first species of ''Thryptomene'' described.
The
specific epithet
In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...
(''australis'') means "southern".
In 2001,
Barbara Lynette Rye and
Malcolm Eric Trudgen
Malcolm Eric Trudgen (born 1951) is a West Australian botanist.
He has published some 105 botanical names. He currently runs his own consulting company, ''ME Trudgen and Associates''.
He has worked in the Pilbara.
Some publications
*
*.
*
*
...
described two subspecies in the journal ''
Nuytsia'' and the names are accepted by the
Australian Plant Census:
* ''Thryptomene australis''
Endl. subsp. ''australis''
has eight to twelve stamens on
filaments usually longer than ;
* ''Thryptomene australis'' subsp. ''brachyandra''
Rye & Trudgen has seven to ten stamens on
filaments usually shorter than .
Distribution and habitat
Both subspecies of hook-leaf thryptomene are widely distributed in the south-west of Western Australia where they mainly grow on granite outcrops but also on plains, around salt lakes and creeklines and in firebreaks in gravelly, sandy, clay or loamy soils. The species occurs in the
Avon Wheatbelt,
Esperance Plains,
Mallee and
Coolgardie 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 ...
but subsp. ''australis'' is mostly absent from the last of these.
Conservation status
Both subspecies of ''Thryptomene australis'' are list 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 e ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15389562
australis
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Rosids of Western Australia
Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher
Plants described in 1838