Silky mintbush | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Genus: | Prostanthera |
Species: | P. sericea |
Binomial name | |
Prostanthera sericea | |
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Occurrence data from AVH | |
Synonyms [1] | |
Prostanthera sericea, commonly known as silky mintbush [2] or walyuwalyu, [3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to inland Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy branches, cylindrical leaves and white flowers with mauve or purple streaks.
Prostanthera sericea is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) with its branches and leaves covered with silvery green or greyish green hairs. The leaves are cylindrical, sometimes with a groove along the lower surface, 10–53 mm (0.39–2.09 in) long and 0.5–3.5 mm (0.020–0.138 in) wide and sessile. The flowers are arranged in groups of four to fourteen on the ends of the branches, each flower on a hairy pedicel 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) long. The sepals are cream-coloured and form a tube 1.5–3.5 mm (0.059–0.138 in) long with two lobes, the lower lobe 1.2–2.8 mm (0.047–0.110 in) long and the upper lobe 2–5.4 mm (0.079–0.213 in) long. The petals are 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long and white with mauve or purple streaks inside the petal tube. The middle lobe of the lower lip is spatula-shaped, 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long and the side lobes are egg-shaped, 2–4.5 mm (0.079–0.177 in) long. The upper lip is egg-shaped with the lower end towards the base, 1.5–5.5 mm (0.059–0.217 in) long with a central notch 0.5–2.5 mm (0.020–0.098 in) deep. Flowering occurs from July to December or March. [3] [4] [5]
Silky mintbush was first formally described in 1926 by John McConnell Black who gave it the name Prostanthera baxteri var. sericea in the Flora of South Australia from specimens collected near the Birksgate Range during the Elder expedition of 1891. [6] In 1988, Barry Conn raised the variety to species status as Prostanthera sericea in the journal Nuytsia . [4] [7]
Prostanthera sericea grows on stony hills, in rocky gorges and on sand dunes and sandplains in the east of Western Australia, southern Northern Territory and western South Australia. [2] [3] [5]
Prostanthera eurybioides, commonly known as Monarto mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-east of South Australia. It is a low, spreading shrub with densely hairy branches, thick, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves clustered on short shoots, and violet to mid-purple flowers that are white with orange and dark purple dots inside the petal tube.
Prostanthera magnifica, commonly known as magnificent prostanthera, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a slender to spreading, erect shrub that has hairy stems, elliptical to narrow egg-shaped leaves and pale mauve or pale blue to pink flowers with prominent dark mauve to purple sepals.
Prostanthera stenophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Wollemi National Park in New South Wales. It is an erect, slender, aromatic shrub with hairy, oblong leaves and small groups of pale bluish mauve to violet flowers.
Prostanthera junonis, commonly known as Somersby mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the Central Coast of New South Wales. It is a low, straggling shrub with hairy, egg-shaped leaves and purple to mauve flowers.
Prostanthera althoferi is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to inland areas of Australia. It is an erect shrub with its stems and leaves densely covered with silvery, greyish-green hairs, and has narrow egg-shaped leaves and white to cream-coloured flowers with mauve or purple striations inside.
Prostanthera ammophila, commonly known as sand mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to southern areas of South Australia. It is an erect to spreading shrub with egg-shaped to narrow elliptical leaves and white and purple to mauve flowers with yellow spots inside.
Prostanthera baxteri is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-east of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with narrow egg-shaped to linear leaves and white flowers with a tinge of blue to pale mauve.
Prostanthera behriana, commonly known as tall mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-east of South Australia. It is an erect to straggling shrub with egg-shaped leaves and white, pale blue, pale violet or purplish white flowers with red-brown spots or purple streaks inside.
Prostanthera canaliculata is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, erect shrub with hairy branchlets, narrow egg-shaped to narrow elliptical leaves and pale blue or pale violet to white flowers with no markings.
Prostanthera centralis is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to an area near the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy branchlets, hairy egg-shaped to elliptical leaves and mauve to blue flowers.
Prostanthera eckersleyana, commonly known as crinkly mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with sticky, hairy branchlets, egg-shaped to elliptical leaves and blue, mauve to purple or violet flowers with maroon spots inside the petal tube.
Prostanthera ferricola is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to central Western Australia. It is an erect, openly branched shrub with aromatic, egg-shaped leaves and mauve-purple flowers arranged in four to twelve leaf axils near the end of branchlets.
Prostanthera florifera, commonly known as Gawler Ranges mintbush, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. It is a small shrub with densely hairy branches, thick, linear to narrow oblong leaves, and pinkish-red flowers that are pale pink with pinkish-red blotches inside the petal tube.
Prostanthera grylloana is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small, erect shrub with densely hairy branchlets, small, spatula-shaped leaves and red to pink flowers.
Prostanthera incurvata is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to the inland of Western Australia. It is a small, erect shrub with hairy branches, narrow oblong to narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and pink to red, sometimes yellow flowers.
Prostanthera nanophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small shrub with hairy branches, egg-shaped to elliptic or narrow oblong leaves and mauve or blue to white flowers with dull brown, maroon or purple spots.
Prostanthera petrophila is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with densely hairy branches, narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base and white flowers with violet striations in the petal tube.
Prostanthera scutata is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small, erect, compact shrub with densely hairy branches, elliptic to narrow elliptic leaves and pale blue or faintly violet flowers.
Prostanthera splendens is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small, spreading shrub with small, densely glandular, egg-shaped leaves and mauve to light purple flowers, paler on the inside with mauve to reddish-brown dots.
Prostanthera verticillaris is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with whorled, egg-shaped to elliptic leaves and white to purplish-blue flowers.