Cyanothamnus westringioides

Cyanothamnus westringioides

Priority Two — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Rutaceae
Genus: Cyanothamnus
Species:
C. westringioides
Binomial name
Cyanothamnus westringioides
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Cyanothamnus westringioides is a species of erect shrub that is endemic to a small area in the southwest of Western Australia. It has simple, narrow, sessile leaves and pale pink flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Description

Cyanothamnus westringioides is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 75 cm (30 in) and has ascending branches. The leaves are sessile and elliptic, sometimes trifoliate, more or less terete and 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long. The flowers are borne singly in upper leaf axils on a top-shaped pedicel 1–3 mm (0.039–0.118 in) long. There are leaf-like bracts about 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long at the base of the flowers. The sepals are prominently glandular, triangular to egg-shaped or pointed and 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long. The petals are pale pink, thin and glandular, elliptical and 5–6 mm (0.20–0.24 in) long. The stamens are glandular near the tip. Flowering occurs from July to October.[2][3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1998 by Paul Wilson and given the name Boronia westringioides in the journal Nuytsia from a specimen collected near the road between Hyden and Norseman.[2][5] In a 2013 paper in the journal Taxon, Marco Duretto and others changed the name to Cyanothamnus westringioides on the basis of cladistic analysis.[6] The specific epithet (westringioides) refers to the similarity of this species to some in the genus Westringia.[2]

Distribution and habitat

Cyanothamnus westringioides grows on loamy sandplains in a small area north of Lake King and east of Hyden.[2][4]

Conservation

Cyanothamnus westringioides is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife[3] meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[7]

References

  1. ^ "Cyanothamnus westringioides". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 22 September 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d Wilson, Paul G. (1998). "New names and new taxa in the genus Boronia (Rutaceae) from Western Australia, with notes on seed characters". Nuytsia. 12 (1): 152–154. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Cyanothamnus westringioides". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ^ a b Duretto, Marco F.; Wilson, Paul G.; Ladiges, Pauline Y. "Boronia westringioides". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Boronia westringioides". APNI. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  6. ^ Duretto, Marco F.; Heslewood, Margaret M.; Bayly, Michael J. (2020). "Boronia (Rutaceae) is polyphyletic: Reinstating Cyanothamnus and the problems associated with inappropriately defined outgroups". Taxon. 69 (3): 481–499. doi:10.1002/tax.12242. S2CID 225836058.
  7. ^ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 15 March 2020.