Ptilotus exiliflorus is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to the west of Western Australia. It is an annual plant with several more or less prostrate stems becoming glabrous as they age, hairy leaves, and green or white, oval or cylindrical spikes of flowers.
Ptilotus exiliflorus is an annual plant with several more or less prostrate stems that become glabrous as they age. The leaves at the base of the plant and on the stems are 5–40mm (0.20–1.57in) long and 1–3mm (0.039–0.118in) wide, hairy at first, but become glabrous. The flowers are borne in green or white, oval or cylindrical spikes with densely arranged flowers. There are hairy, colourless bracts3.5–4.0mm (0.14–0.16in) long and bracteoles3.5–3.9mm (0.14–0.15in) long with an obscure midrib. The tepals are mostly 4.0–4.5mm (0.16–0.18in) long, the inner tepals with a tuft of hairs on the inner surface. The style is 0.7–0.9mm (0.028–0.035in) long, straight and centrally fixed to the ovary. The seed is dull brown and 0.7–0.9mm (0.028–0.035in) long.[2]
Taxonomy
In 1870, George Bentham described Ptilotus humilis var. parviflorus in his Flora Australiensis.[3][4] In 2012, Robert Wayne Davis raised the variety to species status as Ptilotus parviflorus but that name was illegitimate because the name is preoccupied by Ptilotus parviflorus(Lindl.) F.Muell. Davis raised the new name P. exiliflorusR.W.Davis for the species.[5][6] The specific epithet (exiliflorus) means 'slender flowered', referring to its narrower flowers compared to the similar P. humilis.[6]
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