Petrophile latericola

Petrophile latericola is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with needle-shaped leaves and spherical heads of bright yellow flowers.

Petrophile latericola

Declared rare (DEC)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. latericola
Binomial name
Petrophile latericola

Description

Petrophile latericola is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.3–1.5 m (1 ft 0 in – 4 ft 11 in) high and has glabrous branchlets and leaves. The leaves are needle-shaped, 30–40 mm (1.2–1.6 in) long and sharply pointed. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in sessile, more or less spherical heads with fifteen to thirty-five flowers. The flowers are 16–20 mm (0.63–0.79 in) long and bright yellow with many tapering linear involucral bracts at the base. Flowering has been observed in November and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a spherical head about 10 mm (0.39 in) long.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile latericola was first formally described in 2010 by Gregory John Keighery in The Western Australian Naturalist from specimens he collected in the Whicher escarpment in 1990.[2][4] The specific epithet (latericola) means "associated with laterite".[5]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in heath and shrubland along the base of the Whicher Range in the Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic region in the southwest of Western Australia.[2][3]

Conservation status

This petrophile is classified as "Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" by the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia).[3]

Cultural references

In 2019 Australia Post featured Petrophile latericola on a postage stamp.[6]

References
  1. "Petrophile latericola". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. Keighery, Gregory J. (2010). "A new species of Petrophile (Proteaceae) from the Whicher Range". The Western Australian Naturalist. 27 (2): 103–106. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  3. "Petrophile latericola". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. "Petrophile latericola". APNI. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  5. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 235. ISBN 9780958034180.
  6. "Australian plants on stamps = Petrophile latericola". Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
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