Darwinia wittwerorum

Darwinia wittwerorum, commonly known as Wittwer's darwinia, is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in Western Australia. An erect, spindly shrub with fine leaves and hanging groups of flowers surrounded by leaf-like bracts, it is one of the darwinias known as mountain bells.

Darwinia wittwerorum
Darwinia wittwerorum in Kings Park Botanic Garden
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Darwinia
Species:
D. wittwerorum
Binomial name
Darwinia wittwerorum
Occurrence data from AVH

Description

Wittwer's darwinia is an erect shrub with a single stem growing to a height of 60–80 centimetres (20–30 in). The leaves are well spaced along the branches, linear in shape, triangular in cross-section, 5–10 millimetres (0.2–0.4 in) long and less than 0.5 millimetres (0.02 in) wide.[2][3]

The flowers hang in groups of 5 to 9 surrounded by large, leaf like bracts. The inner bracts are elliptic to egg-shaped, 18–21 millimetres (0.7–0.8 in) long, 6–9 millimetres (0.2–0.4 in) wide and partly cream and partly pink. The outer bracts are cream-coloured and linear in shape. The flowers are cream-coloured and each has ten stamens and a style with a brush on the end. Flowering occurs from August to November.[2][3]

Taxonomy

The first formal description of D. wittwerorum was published by Neville Marchant and Greg Keighery in 1980 in Nuytsia.[1] The specific epithet (wittwerorum) honours Magda and Ernst Wittwer.[2]

Distribution and habitat

This darwinia is currently only known from eight populations in the lower part of the Stirling Range in the Esperance Plains and Jarrah Forest biogeographic regions, where it grows in open mallee over scrub.[2][3][4]

Conservation

Darwinia wittwerorum is classified as "Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife[4] and a recovery plan has been prepared. It has also been listed as "Endangered" (EN) under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) "due to fragmentation and limited geographic range."[3]

References
  1. "Darwinia wittwerorum". APNI. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  2. Marchant, Neville Graeme; Keighery, Gregory John (1980). "A new species and a new combination in Darwinia (Myrtaceae) from Western Australia". Nuytsia. 3 (2): 179–181.
  3. Hartley, Renée; Gilfillan, Sandra; Barrett, Sarah. "Wittwer's Mountain Bell (Darwinia wittwerorum) recovery plan" (PDF). Australian Government Department of the Environment. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  4. "Darwinia wittwerorum". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
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