Petrophile wonganensis

Petrophile wonganensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to south-western Western Australia. It is a dense shrub with blunt, needle-shaped leaves, and more or less spherical heads of hairy, yellow flowers.

Petrophile wonganensis
A=flowering and fruiting branchlet; B=leaf; C=flower; D=fruiting branchlet; E,F=upper and lower surface of nut
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. wonganensis
Binomial name
Petrophile wonganensis
Foreman[1]

Description

Petrophile wonganensis is a dense shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1.5 m (1 ft 8 in–4 ft 11 in) and has hairy young branchlets and leaves that become glabrous as they age. The leaves are blunt, needle-shaped, 5–9 mm (0.20–0.35 in) long. The flowers are arranged at the ends of branchlets in sessile, more or less spherical heads up to about 15 mm (0.59 in) in diameter, with egg-shaped or elliptic involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are about 14–15 mm (0.55–0.59 in) long, yellow and hairy. Flowering occurs from August to January and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a more or less spherical head 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) in diameter.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile wonganensis was first formally described in 1995 by Donald Bruce Foreman in Flora of Australia from material collected by James Henderson Ross near Wongan Hills in 1984.[4] The specific epithet (wonganensis) refers to the type location.[5]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile mainly occurs near Wongan Hills and towards Cowcowing, in the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region. It grows in heath and shrubland in sand or sandy loam.[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 wonganensis". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. Foreman, David B. "Petrophile wonganensis". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  3. "Petrophile wonganensis". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. "Petrophile wonganensis". APNI. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 340. ISBN 9780958034180.
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