Petrophile conifera
| Petrophile conifera | |
|---|---|
| |
| In Sandy Gully | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Proteales |
| Family: | Proteaceae |
| Genus: | Petrophile |
| Species: | P. conifera
|
| Binomial name | |
| Petrophile conifera | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Petrophila conifera Meisn. orth. var. | |
Petrophile conifera is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a bushy, much-branched shrub with pinnate, sharply-pointed leaves, and oval heads of hairy, cream-coloured to yellowish white flowers.
Description
[edit]Petrophile conifera is a bushy, much-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–1.5 m (1 ft 0 in – 4 ft 11 in) and has woolly-hairy young branchlets. The leaves are glabrous, 40–110 mm (1.6–4.3 in) long on a petiole 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) long. They are rigid and needle-like, pinnately divided with sharply-pointed pinnae 4–35 mm (0.16–1.38 in) long. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in sessile, oval heads 20–30 mm (0.79–1.18 in) long, with hairy, lance-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are 8–15 mm (0.31–0.59 in) long, hairy, cream-coloured, creamy yellow or yellowish white. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval head 10–30 mm (0.39–1.18 in) long.[2][3]
Taxonomy
[edit]Petrophile conifera was first formally described in 1855 by Carl Meissner in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany from material collected by James Drummond.[4][5] The specific epithet (conifera) means "cone-bearing".[6]
In 2011, Michael Clyde Hislop and Kelly Anne Shepherd described two subspecies in the journal Nuytsia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:[7]
- Petrophile conifera Meisn. subsp. conifera has petioles 20–48 mm (0.79–1.89 in) long and involucral bracts 0.9–2.2 mm (0.035–0.087 in) wide;[8]
- Petrophile conifera subsp. divaricata B.L.Rye & K.A.Sheph.[9] has petioles 12–24 mm (0.47–0.94 in) long and involucral bracts 2.5–4.1 mm (0.098–0.161 in) wide.
Distribution and habitat
[edit]This petrophile grows in heath and on sandplains and is common north of Geraldton in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions of southwestern Western Australia.[2][3] Subspecies conifera is found from Eurardy Reserve and Kalbarri National Park to the Chapman River near Geraldton and subsp. divaricata only occurs near Coorow.[7]
Conservation status
[edit]Petrophile conifera subsp. conifera is classified as "not threatened"[10] but subsp. divaricata is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife,[11] meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Petrophile conifera". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ a b Foreman, David B. "Petrophile conifera". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ a b "Petrophile conifera". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Petrophile conifera". APNI. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Meissner, Carl (1855). "New Proteaceae of Australia". Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Gardens Miscellany. 7: 67. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 169. ISBN 9780958034180.
- ^ a b Rye, Barbara L.; Hislop, Michael C.; Shepherd, Kelly A.; Hollister, Chris (2011). "New south-western Australian members of the genus Petrophile (Proteaceae: Petrophileae), including a hybrid" (PDF). Nuytsia. 21 (2): 46–47. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ "Petrophile conifera subsp. conifera". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ "Petrophile conifera subsp. divaricata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ "Petrophile conifera subsp. conifera". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Petrophile conifera subsp. divaricata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 8 December 2020.