Verticordia drummondii

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Drummond's featherflower
Verticordia drummondii.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Myrtaceae
Genus: Verticordia
Subgenus: Verticordia subg. Eperephes
Section: Verticordia sect. Verticordella
Species:
V. drummondii
Binomial name
Verticordia drummondii

Verticordia drummondii, commonly known as Drummond's featherflower, [2] is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, openly to densely branched shrub with small, narrow leaves and pink to purple flowers in small heads near the ends of the branches.

Contents

Description

Verticordia drummondii is a shrub which grows to a height of 30–45 cm (10–20 in) and a spread of 30–75 cm (10–30 in), although sometimes as high as 1.0 m (3 ft) and which has a single, sometimes highly branched stem at its base. Its leaves are narrow egg-shaped, 1.5–3.5 mm (0.06–0.1 in) long with a rounded end but with a very short point. [3]

The flowers are scented and arranged in spike-like groups, each flower on a stalk 1.5–2.0 mm (0.06–0.08 in) long. The floral cup is top-shaped, about 2 mm (0.08 in) long, glabrous with 5 ribs and small green appendages. The sepals are pale to bright pink, 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, with 5 to 7 hairy lobes. The petals are erect, pink or white, 3–4 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long, roughly circular in shape with a fringe about 2–2.3 mm (0.08–0.09 in) long. The style is curved, 5–6 mm (0.2–0.2 in) long and has hairs 0.4 mm (0.02 in) long and a slightly enlarged stigma. Flowering time is from December to April. [3]

Taxonomy and naming

Verticordia drummondii was first formally described by Johannes Conrad Schauer in 1840 from a collection made by James Drummond and the description was published in Monographia Myrtacearum Xerocarpicarum. [1] [4] The specific epithet (drummondii) honours the collector of the type specimen. [3]

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia grows in sand in low-lying heath and woodland, sometimes in gravelly soil in open woodland. It occurs in near-coastal areas between the Moore River and Mandurah, including the Perth metropolitan area. [3] It is found in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions. [2] [5]

Conservation

Verticordia drummondii is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. [2]

Use in horticulture

This species can be propagated fairly easily from both cuttings and seed and has grown well in a wide range of soil types. Plants grow best in a sunny situation, respond well to pruning and are both drought and moderately frost tolerant. Cultivation in summer-rainfall areas such as Sydney is more difficult. [3]

Related Research Articles

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Verticordia blepharophylla is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, open shrub with a single main stem, leaves with hairy margins and pale to deep mauve-pink flowers and which occurs in an area between Perth and Geraldton.

Verticordia brachypoda is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an irregularly branched shrub with narrow leaves crowded on side-branches, and cream-coloured or white flowers with pink, cream or white centres.

<i>Verticordia cunninghamii</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Verticordia habrantha</i> Species of flowering plant

Verticordia habrantha, commonly known as hidden featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender shrub with short, leafy side-branches and long flowering stems with rounded heads of mostly white flowers. Its hairy sepals are mostly hidden by the round, unfringed petals, and as a result, the plant looks like shrubs in the genus Chamelaucium, to which it is closely related.

Verticordia sect. Verticordia is one of eleven sections in the subgenus Verticordia. It includes eight species of plants in the genus Verticordia. Plants in this section are open to bushy shrubs up to 1 m (3 ft) tall with needle-like leaves, feather-like sepals and anthers opening by slanting pores. When Johannes Conrad Schauer described other subgenera in Verticordia, subgenus Verticordia became an autonym after Augustin de Candolle who described the genus in 1828. When Alex George reviewed the genus in 1991, he took the name of this section from that of the subgenus.

Verticordia sect. Chrysoma is one of seven sections in the subgenus Chrysoma. It includes four species of plants in the genus Verticordia. Plants in this section are small shrubs with small, bright yellow flowers which usually turn red as they age. They have sepals with fringed lobes and petals which have lobes arranged like the fingers of a hand. The subgenus Chrysoma was originally described in 1843 by Johannes Conrad Schauer and the description was published in Monographia Myrtacearum Xerocarpicarum. When Alex George reviewed the genus in 1991, he took the name of this section from that of the subgenus.

<i>Verticordia monadelpha</i> Species of flowering plant

Verticordia monadelpha is a flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a much-branched shrub with pink to magenta flowers in spring and early summer. It is commonly known as pink Morrison, woolly featherflower, pink woolly featherflower, white woolly featherflower or pink cauliflower.

<i>Homoranthus flavescens</i> Species of flowering plant

Homoranthus flavescens is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern New South Wales. It is a low, spreading, flat-topped shrub with cylinder-shaped or flattened leaves. Single yellow to reddish flowers appear in leaf axils in late spring and summer, forming clusters near the end of the branchlets.

Verticordia densiflora var. cespitosa is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with small leaves and pink, or pink and white flowers. It is one of five varieties of the species Verticordia densiflora.

<i>Verticordia fimbrilepis</i> Species of flowering plant

Verticordia fimbrilepis, commonly known as shy featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, bushy shrub with one openly branched main stem at its base, small, pointed leaves and rounded groups of pink flowers near the ends of the branches.

<i>Verticordia fimbrilepis <span style="font-style:normal;">subsp.</span> fimbrilepis</i> Subspecies of flowering plant

Verticordia fimbrilepis subsp. fimbrilepis is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small bushy shrub with one openly branched main stem at its base, small, pointed leaves and rounded groups of pink flowers near the ends of the branches.

<i>Verticordia lindleyi</i> Species of flowering plant

Verticordia lindleyi is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is sometimes an openly branched shrub, other times more or less dense, with small leaves and spreading, spike-like groups of pink or purple flowers along the stems in summer, sometimes also in autumn.

<i>Verticordia serrata</i> Species of flowering plant

Verticordia serrata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spindly or openly branched shrub with hairy, egg-shaped leaves and flowers which are golden at first, then fade to a greyish colour.

Verticordia sieberi is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with one main stem, often compact but sometimes openly branched and with pink to pale purple flowers in summer and autumn.

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<i>Calytrix angulata</i> Species of flowering plant

Calytrix angulata, commonly known as yellow starflower, is a species of plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae that is endemic to Western Australia.

Calytrix brownii, commonly known as the white turkeybush, is a species of plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae that is endemic to Western Australia.

Calytrix decandra, commonly known as the pink starflower, is a species of plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae that is endemic to Western Australia.

<i>Calytrix glutinosa</i> Species of flowering plant

Calytrix glutinosa is a species of plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae that is endemic to Western Australia.

<i>Calytrix sapphirina</i> Species of flowering plant

Calytrix sapphirina is a species of plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae that is endemic to Western Australia.

References

  1. 1 2 "Verticordia drummondii". APNI. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 "Verticordia drummondii". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Elizabeth A. (Berndt) George; Margaret Pieroni (illustrator) (2002). Verticordia: the turner of hearts (1st ed.). Crawley, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. pp. 330–332. ISBN   1-876268-46-8.
  4. Schauer, Johannes Conrad (1843). Monographia Myrtacearum Xerocarpicarum. pp. 208–209. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  5. Paczkowska, Grazyna; Chapman, Alex R. (2000). The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue. Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. p. 405. ISBN   0646402439.