Petrophile clavata

Petrophile clavata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a shrub with curved, needle-shaped, sharply-pointed leaves and spherical heads of hairy, cream-coloured to very pale yellow flowers.

Petrophile clavata

Priority Two — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. clavata
Binomial name
Petrophile clavata
Hislop & Rye[1]

Description

Petrophile clavata is an erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of 25–70 cm (9.8–27.6 in) and has hairy branchlets, especially when young. The leaves are cylindrical, 20–50 mm (0.79–1.97 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide with a sharply-pointed tip, erect near the base but turn downwards. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in sessile, spherical heads 30–45 mm (1.2–1.8 in) in diameter, with many narrow egg-shaped, densely hairy involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are 15–20 mm (0.59–0.79 in) long, cream-coloured to very pale yellow, and densely hairy. Flowering occurs from May to early August and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in a more or less spherical head 10–12 mm (0.39–0.47 in) long and 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) wide.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile clavata was first formally described in 2002 by Michael Clyde Hislop and Barbara Lynette Rye in the journal Nuytsia from material collected by Alex George near Calingiri in 1984.[2][4] The specific epithet (clavata) means "club-shaped", referring to the hairs on the pollen presenter.[2][5]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in heathland on sand and is known from near Coorow and Calingiri in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Jarrah Forest biogeographic regions in the southwest of Western Australia.[2][3]

Conservation status

Petrophile clavata 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.[6]

References
  1. "Petrophile clavata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  2. Hislop, Michael C.; Rye, Barbara L. (2002). "Three new early-flowering species of Petrophile (Proteaceae) from south-western Australia". Nuytsia. 14 (3): 369–372. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  3. "Petrophile clavata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  4. "Petrophile clavata". APNI. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  5. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 165. ISBN 9780958034180.
  6. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
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