Mirbelia ferricola

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Mirbelia ferricola
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Mirbelia
Species:
M. ferricola
Binomial name
Mirbelia ferricola

Mirbelia ferricola is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland parts of the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with leaves reduced to small scales, and red and yellow flowers arranged in racemes at the ends of the branches.

Contents

Description

Mirbelia ferricola is an erect shrub that typically grows to 1–3 m (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) high and 0.7–2 m (2 ft 4 in – 6 ft 7 in) wide. Its leaves are arranged alternately along the stems but are reduced to egg-shaped to triangular scales 1.0–3.5 mm (0.039–0.138 in) long, 0.6–1.7 mm (0.024–0.067 in) wide and silky hairy on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged in racemes on the ends of branchlets, each flower on a pedicel 1.4–3.0 mm (0.055–0.118 in) long with bracts 1.9–3.1 mm (0.075–0.122 in) long and similar bracteoles 0.8–1.65 mm (0.031–0.065 in) long, the bracts and bracteoles falling off before the flowers open. The sepals are 4.2–6.1 mm (0.17–0.24 in) long and joined at the base, the lower three lobes 1.5–3.3 mm (0.059–0.130 in) long. The standard petal is kidney-shaped with a shallowly notched centre, 8.1–10.3 mm (0.32–0.41 in) long, 11.8–16.5 mm (0.46–0.65 in) wide and yellow and red, the wings egg-shaped, 7.6–9.3 mm (0.30–0.37 in) long and pale yellow with a reddish base, and the keel 5.4–7.1 mm (0.21–0.28 in) long and creamy yellow with a red tip. Flowering occurs from late June to November and the fruit is an inflated, oval to elliptic pod 6.8–13.5 mm (0.27–0.53 in) long. [2]

Taxonomy

Mirbelia ferricola was first formally described in 2012 by Ryonen Butcher in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected in the Helena and Aurora Range in 2008. [2] [3] The specific epithet (ferricola) means "iron-inhabiting", referring to the soil in which this species grows. [2] [4]

Distribution and habitat

This mirbelia grows on rocky lateritic soils in woodland and shrubland in banded iron formations in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie and Murchison bioregions of south-western, Western Australia. [2] [5]

Conservation status

This mirbelia is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, [5] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Mirbelia</i> Genus of legumes

Mirbelia is a plant genus belonging to the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Australia, occurring in every mainland state except South Australia. Plants in the genus Mirbelia are prickly, perennial shrubs with simple, sometimes sharply-pointed leaves, or the leaves absent. The flowers are arranged singly or in groups in leaf axils or on the ends of branches, the sepals joined at the base with five teeth. The petals are usually red, orange, purplish or bluish and the fruit is an inflated pod.

<i>Pimelea calcicola</i> Species of shrub

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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.

Gompholobium karijini is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, openly-branched shrub with pinnate leaves with five to ten pairs of leaflets, and racemes of yellow to orange and creamy-yellow, pea-like flowers.

Bossiaea peduncularis is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect, more or less leafless shrub with arching branches, cladodes ending with a point and deep yellow, red and greenish-yellow flowers.

Gompholobium oreophilum is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with pinnate leaves with elliptic leaflets, and racemes of yellow to orange and creamy-yellow, pea-like flowers.

Gompholobium polyzygum is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to north-western Australia. It is an erect or prostrate shrub with pinnate leaves each with sixteen to twenty-one pairs of leaflets, and yellow-orange and greenish, pea-like flowers.

Bossiaea zarae, commonly known as Princess May winged pea, is a species of flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae and is endemic to the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with winged stems, winged cladodes, scale-like leaves and yellow, and reddish-brown flowers.

Daviesia eremaea is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to central Australia. It is an erect, glabrous, multi-stemmed shrub with needle-like, more or less sharply-pointed phyllodes, and yellow and red flowers.

Sphaerolobium benetectum is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is tuft-forming sub-shrub with erect stems, linear to lance-shaped leaves, and yellow-orange and pink to red flowers.

Mirbelia balsiformis is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the far west of Western Australia. It is an erect to sprawling shrub with leaves reduced to triangular scales, and yellow to orange and red flowers arranged in racemes on the side of the branchlets.

<i>Mirbelia confertiflora</i> Species of legume

Mirbelia confertiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a rigid, bushy shrub with linear leaves and yellow to orange flowers arranged in racemes near the end of the branches.

Mirbelia corallina is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the far west of Western Australia. It is a slender, sprawling sub-shrub with a few narrowly elliptic to narrowly egg-shaped leaves and pink and yellow flowers arranged in racemes near the ends of the branchlets.

<i>Mirbelia granitica</i> Species of plant

Mirbelia granitica is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland areas of Western Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with spiny branches, scattered linear to narrowly egg-shaped leaves and yellow and red flowers.

Sphaerolobium pubescens is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is a small shrub or subshrub with slender stems, tapering linear leaves and dense racemes of yellow flowers.

<i>Sphaerolobium rostratum</i> Species of flowering plant

Sphaerolobium rostratum is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect to sprawling shrub or subshrub with slender stems, tapering linear leaves and loose racemes of pink and cream-coloured flowers.

<i>Mirbelia ramulosa</i> Species of plant

Mirbelia ramulosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, much-branched, spiny, leafless shrub with yellow and red, purple or brown flowers.

Mirbelia rhagodioides is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland areas of Western Australia. It is an erect, prickly shrub with clustered linear or narrowly elliptic leaves and yellow and red flowers.

Mirbelia stipitata is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to inland areas of Western Australia. It is a spiny, more or less leafless shrub with yellow and red flowers.

Thomasia × formosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, compact shrub with densely hairy branchlets, hairy, coarsely serrated, egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong leaves, and racemes of pink or purple flowers arranged in leaf axils.

References

  1. "Mirbelia ferricola". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Butcher, Ryonen (2012). "Three new species allied to the 'Mirbelia viminalis group' (Fabaceae: Mirbelieae), from Western Australia" (PDF). Nuytsia. 22 (2): 84–87. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  3. "Mirbelia ferricola". APNI. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  4. Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 198. ISBN   9780958034180.
  5. 1 2 "Mirbelia ferricola". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  6. "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 2 July 2022.