Darwinia pinifolia

Darwinia pinifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Myrtaceae
Genus:	Darwinia
Species:	D. pinifolia
Binomial name
Darwinia pinifolia (Lindl.) Benth.[1]
Occurrence data from AVH

Darwinia pinifolia is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading to prostrate shrub with linear leaves and dense heads of erect, red to purple flowers.

Description

Darwinia pinifolia is a low, spreading to prostrate shrub that typically grows to height of 10–50 cm (3.9–19.7 in) and has many branches. Its leaves are linear, more or less round to triangular in cross-section, about 12 mm (0.47 in) long and more or less sessile. The flowers are erect, red to purple, arranged in dense heads on the ends of branches, surrounded by egg-shaped or spatula-shaped bracteoles that are shorter than the flowers. The sepal tube is nearly 6.5 mm (0.26 in) long with broadly egg-shaped lobes about as long as the petals. Flowering occurs from September to February.[2][3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley who gave it the name Hedaroma pinifolium in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.[4][5] In 1865, George Bentham changed the name to Pimelea pinifolia in Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany.[6] The specific epithet (pinifolia) means "pine-leaved".[7]

Distribution and habitat

Darwinia pinifolia is typically found in sandy soils in winter-wet areas in the Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[3]

References

1. "Darwinia pinifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
2. Bentham, George (1867). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 3. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 14. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
3. "Darwinia pinifolia". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
4. "Hedaroma pinifolium". APNI. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
5. Lindley, John (1839). A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. London: James Ridgway. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
6. "Darwinia pinifolia". APNI. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
7. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 278. ISBN 9780958034180.