Petrophile pauciflora

Petrophile pauciflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to western areas of Western Australia. It is a shrub usually with three-forked leaves, the lobes sharply-pointed, and spherical heads of small groups of hairy yellow or orange flowers.

Petrophile pauciflora
A=flowering branchlet; B=flower; C=fruiting branchlet; D,E=upper and lower surfaces of nut

Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. pauciflora
Binomial name
Petrophile pauciflora
Foreman[1]

Description

Petrophile pauciflora is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1 m (1 ft 8 in–3 ft 3 in) and has hairy young branchlets and leaves that become glabrous as they age. The leaves are 15–35 mm (0.59–1.38 in) long and cylindrical but three-forked, the middle segment sometimes divided again, each segment sharply-pointed. The flowers are arranged near the ends of branchlets in spherical heads about 8 mm (0.31 in) in diameter, with egg-shaped involucral bracts at the base. The heads contain only a few flowers, each about 7 mm (0.28 in) long, yellow or orange, and hairy. Flowering has been observed in September and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval or spherical head 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile pauciflora was first formally described in 1995 by Donald Bruce Foreman in Flora of Australia from material collected by Alex George near Bimbijy Station in 1976.[4] The specific epithet (pauciflora) means "few-flowered".[5]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in low, open heathland on breakaway areas in a few locations in the Avon Wheatbelt, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions of Western Australia.[2][3]

Conservation status

Petrophile pauciflora is classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife[3] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[6]

References
  1. "Petrophile pauciflora". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  2. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile pauciflora". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  3. "Petrophile pauciflora". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. "Petrophile pauciflora". APNI. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  5. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 272. ISBN 9780958034180.
  6. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
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