Petrophile squamata

Petrophile squamata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a shrub usually with deeply divided, three-lobed and sharply-pointed leaves, and oval heads of hairy yellow or creamy-yellow flowers.

Petrophile squamata
In the Fitzgerald River National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. squamata
Binomial name
Petrophile squamata
Synonyms[1]

Description

Petrophile squamata is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–3 m (1 ft 0 in–9 ft 10 in). The leaves are up to 65 mm (2.6 in) long on a petiole up to 28 mm (1.1 in) long, and deeply divided with three sharply-pointed lobes that often themselves have three to five lobes and are 3–35 mm (0.12–1.38 in) long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils in sessile, oval heads 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long, with small deciduous involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, yellow or creamy-yellow and hairy. Flowering mainly occurs from July to December and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a more or less oval head about 16 mm (0.63 in) long.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile squamata was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London.[4][5] The specific epithet (squamata) means "scaly", referring to the involucral bracts.[6]

Distribution and habitat

Petrophile squamata is a common and widespread species growing in sandy heath, shrubland or woodland between Perth and Israelite Bay.[2][3]

Conservation status

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

References
  1. "Petrophile squamata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  2. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile squamata". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  3. "Petrophile squamata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. "Petrophile squamata". APNI. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  5. Brown, Robert (1810). "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu". Transactions of the Linnean Society. 10: 70.
  6. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 312. ISBN 9780958034180.
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