Eremophila pusilliflora

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Eremophila pusilliflora
Status DECF P2.svg
Priority Two — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Genus: Eremophila
Species:
E. pusilliflora
Binomial name
Eremophila pusilliflora

Eremophila pusilliflora is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a low, open shrub with narrow egg-shaped leaves and flowers which vary in colour from red to cream with a red tinge. It grows in the Pilbara region.

Contents

Description

Eremophila pusilliflora is an open shrub growing to 30–50 cm (10–20 in) high and 50–100 cm (20–40 in) wide. The leaves are arranged alternately, egg-shaped, 6–15 mm (0.2–0.6 in) long and 2–5 mm (0.08–0.2 in) wide and clustered at the ends of the branches. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a woolly stalk 4–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long. There are 5 green sepals which age to reddish-pink and are 11–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. The petals are variably coloured, ranging from red to pink or purple, sometimes cream with a red tinge, 8–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and joined at their lower end to form a bell-shaped tube which has a few glandular hairs inside and out. The four stamens extend beyond the end of the petal tube. Flowering time is mainly from April to September. [2] [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Eremophila pusilliflora was first formally described by Bevan Buirchell and Andrew Brown in 2016 and the description was published in Nuytsia . Prior to its formal description it was known as Eremophila sp. 'Princess Range'. [4] [2] The specific epithet (pusilliflora) is derived from the Latin words pusillus meaning "little" [5] :644 and flos meaning "flower", [5] :45 referring to the flowers of this species which are smaller than those of the similar "E. forrestii. [2]

Distribution and habitat

This eremophila grows on rocky hilltops and in low shrubland on plains which are flooded in winter and drain into the Ashburton River in the Pilbara biogeographic region. [2] [3] [6]

Conservation

Eremophila pusilliflora has been classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife [6] meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations. [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Eremophila compressa</i> Species of flowering plant

Eremophila compressa is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub whose leaves have 2 or 3 prominent teeth near their ends, and white or cream-coloured flowers.

Eremophila cryptothrix is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to the Pilbara region of Western Australia. It is a shrub with sticky stems due to the presence of resin, narrow leaves, coloured sepals and white, pale pink or pale blue flowers.

Eremophila grandiflora is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a large shrub with shiny leaves and the largest flowers in its genus and is only known from a restricted area near Paynes Find.

Eremophila pilosa is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small shrub with many tangled branches, with its leaves and branches densely covered with hairs and which has mauve or purple flowers. It occurs in a restricted area in the Pilbara.

<i>Eremophila reticulata</i> Species of flowering plant

Eremophila reticulata is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a dense shrub with egg-shaped leaves, colourful sepals and white or pink flowers.

<i>Eremophila rigida</i> Species of flowering plant

Eremophila rigida is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect, rigid shrub with thick, hairy, rigid leaves and pale yellowish-cream flowers.

Eremophila buirchellii is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to the Mount Augustus National Park in Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with densely clustered leaves, pink, bell-shaped flowers and with most parts of the plant covered with greyish, branched hairs.

Eremophila calcicola is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading, short-lived shrub with broad leaves, and pale, greenish-yellow flowers over a long period.

Eremophila ballythunnensis is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small, spreading shrub with narrow oval leaves and mauve-purple flowers with densely hairy sepals.

Eremophila capricornica is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small shrub with woolly branches, grey, hairy leaves and mauve to lilac-coloured flowers with hairy sepals.

Eremophila daddii is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a large shrub with sticky branches, hairy leaves and brown and cream-coloured flowers blotched with purple.

Eremophila ferricola is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with lance-shaped leaves and yellowish brown to greenish yellow flowers covered with fine hairs. The species is only known from a single location, growing on a banded ironstone hill.

Eremophila hamulata is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect, woody shrub with sticky branches, narrow, hooked leaves and hairy mauve-purple flowers.

Eremophila jamesiorum is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a wispy, sticky shrub with narrow linear leaves and white flowers tinged with pink or mauve. It is only known from a few locations in the Gibson Desert.

Eremophila laccata is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to an area near Carnegie in Western Australia. It is a small, low, spindly shrub with scattered, linear leaves, and pink, flattened bell-shaped flowers.

Eremophila regia is low-growing shrub with pink to red flowers, small thread-like leaves and that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows on rocky hilltops in the Princess Ranges.

Eremophila resiliens is a low-growing shrub with deep reddish purple flowers, woolly hairy leaves and that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows on slopes and breakaways near Lake Carnegie.

Eremophila scrobiculata is low, spreading shrub with sessile, linear leaves and lilac-coloured flowers and that is endemic to Western Australia. It grows on the slopes of low, stony hills on Wanna Station.

Eremophila victoriae is small shrub with sessile, egg-shaped leaves and purple flowers and that is endemic to Western Australia. It is only known from two populations in the Great Victoria Desert.

Eremophila yinnetharrensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of Western Australia. It is an erect, wispy shrub with sessile, lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and purple flowers. It is only known from near Yinnetharra Station in the Gascoyne region.

References

  1. ↑ "Eremophila pusilliflora". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Buirchell, Bevan; Brown, Andrew P. (2016). "New species of Eremophila (Scrophulariaceae): thirteen geographically restricted species from Western Australia". Nuytsia. 27: 271–273.
  3. 1 2 Brown, Andrew; Buirchell, Bevan (2011). A field guide to the eremophilas of Western Australia (1st ed.). Hamilton Hill, W.A.: Simon Nevill Publications. p. 315. ISBN   9780980348156.
  4. ↑ "Eremophila pusilliflora". APNI. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  5. 1 2 Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
  6. 1 2 "Eremophila pusilliflora". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  7. ↑ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
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