Petrophile aculeata

Petrophile aculeata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a small shrub with narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and with irregular teeth near the end, and more or less spherical heads of hairy yellow flowers.

Petrophile aculeata
A = branchlet; B = style; C&D = lower and upper side of nut
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. aculeata
Binomial name
Petrophile aculeata

Description

Petrophile aculeata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 30–50 cm (12–20 in) and has hairy branchlets and leaves but that become glabrous with age. The leaves are narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 40–90 mm (1.6–3.5 in) long and 7–20 mm (0.28–0.79 in) wide with irregular teeth in the upper half. The flowers are arranged in sessile, more or less spherical heads 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) in diameter, with hairy grey involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are about 11 mm (0.43 in) long, yellow and hairy. Flowering occurs from October to November and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a more or less spherical head up to 12 mm (0.47 in) in diameter.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile aculeata was first formally described in 1995 by Donald Bruce Foreman in Flora of Australia.[4] The specific epithet (aculeata) means "prickly", referring to "the prickly appearance and feel of the specimens".[5]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in low heath in the Alexander Morrison National Park near Coorow and in a separate population south of Eneabba where it grows in sandy soils over laterite in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions of southwestern Western Australia.[2][3]

Conservation status

Petrophile aculeata is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.[3]

References
  1. "Petrophile aculeata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  2. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile aculeata". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  3. "Petrophile aculeata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. "Petrophile aculeatus". APNI. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  5. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 127. ISBN 9780958034180.
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