Pityrodia loricata | |
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Pityrodia loricata leaves and flowers | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Genus: | Pityrodia |
Species: | P. loricata |
Binomial name | |
Pityrodia loricata | |
Occurrence data from the ALA |
Pityrodia loricata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a dense, greyish, multi-stemmed shrub with whorled leaves, prominent sepals and pale, pinkish-white flowers. It is common in Western Australia and the Northern Territory and there is a single record from South Australia.
Pityrodia loricata is a dense, multi-stemmed shrub which usually grows to a height of 0.3–0.6 m (1–2 ft) and which has its branches and leaves densely covered with silvery, shield-shaped scales, although the scales may be difficult to see without a hand lens. The leaves are stalkless, arranged in whorls, more or less crowded near the ends of the branches, lance-shaped, 8–20 cm (3–8 in) long and 3–5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) wide. [2] [3]
The flowers are pale whitish-pink and are usually arranged in groups of up to three on stalks 1–2 mm (0.04–0.08 in) long in upper leaf axils. The flowers are surrounded by linear to lance-shaped bracts and bracteoles which are 2–5 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long, scaly on the outside and glabrous and scale-less on the inside. The five sepals are 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long and joined for about half their length to form a tube with five lance-shaped lobes. The sepals are scaly on the outside of the tube and on the lobes but the inside of the sepal tube is glabrous. The five petals are 7–9 mm (0.3–0.4 in) long and glabrous except for a densely hairy ring around the ovary and a few long hairs on the lowest petal. The petals are joined to form a tube with five lobes in two "lips", the lower lip having three lobes. The central, lower lobe is broad elliptic to almost circular in shape, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and about 3 mm (0.1 in) wide and significantly larger than the other four which are about the same size as each other. Flowering occurs from May to November and is followed by hairy, oval-shaped fruit with the sepals still attached. [2] [3]
This species was first formally described in 1876 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Chloanthes loricata and published the description in Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae . [4] [5] In 1904 Georg Pritzel changed the name to Pityrodia loricata. [1] [6] The specific epithet (loricata) is a Latin word meaning "clad in mail". [7]
This pityrodia grows in red or yellow sand on sand dunes. It is found in the near Lake Carnegie, Coolgardie and Eucla districts in Western Australia, near Mount Sonder in the MacDonnell Ranges in the Northern Territory and there is a single record from Mamungari Conservation Park in South Australia. [3] [8] [9] [10]
Pityrodia loricata is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife. [8]
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Eremophila weldii is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Australia. It is a shrub with glabrous green leaves, small sepals and purple or lilac-coloured petals and it occurs in arid and semi-arid areas of Western Australia and South Australia.
Eremophila densifolia is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is usually a low, spreading shrub with densely clustered leaves and lilac to purple flowers.
Eremophila psilocalyx is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with a broom-like shape, narrow, hooked leaves and white, pink, blue or purple flowers. It is common in the mallee country around Esperance. It was sometimes incorrectly known as Eremophila pachyphylla.
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Quoya oldfieldii, commonly known as Oldfield's foxglove, is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with a layer of brownish hairs. The leaves are egg-shaped and the tube-shaped flowers are pink with purple spots inside.
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Pityrodia lepidota is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, densely-branched shrub with small leaves and whitish, bell-shaped flowers. The entire plant, apart from the petals, is densely covered with small, circular scales.
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Quoya dilatata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with its branches and leaves densely covered with a layer of white, woolly hairs. The leaves are wrinkled or crinkly and the tube-shaped flowers are orange-red and hairy on the outside.
Pityrodia chrysocalyx is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with small, glossy leaves, and flowers with white petals and a golden-yellow calyx.
Hemiphora exserta is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with its branches densely covered with white, woolly hairs. Its leaves are rough and wrinkled and the flowers are deep pink or dark red, curved and tube-shaped with spreading petal lobes on the end.
Hemiphora uncinata is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, spreading shrub with its branches densely covered with white, woolly hairs. Its leaves are rough and wrinkled and the flowers are tube-shaped with deep pink petals with wavy edges.
Quoya loxocarpa is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is an open shrub with many spindly tangled branches. The leaves are oblong and woolly when young and the flowers are whitish pink with purple spots inside and are surrounded by woolly sepals.
Pityrodia hemigenioides is a flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with densely hairy branches and leaves, and pale white flowers near the ends of the branches.
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