Verticordia ovalifolia

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Oval-leaved featherflower
Verticordia ovalifolia Tarin Rock.jpg
Verticordia ovalifolia, near Tarin Rock, west of Lake Grace
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. Corynatoca
Species:
V. ovalifolia
Binomial name
Verticordia ovalifolia
Habit Verticordia ovalifolia habit.jpg
Habit

Verticordia ovalifolia, commonly known as oval-leaved featherflower, [2] is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an openly branched shrub with egg-shaped leaves and strap-like, feathery petals in spring.

Contents

Description

Verticordia ovalifolia is a shrub which usually grows to a height of up to 80 cm (31 in) and 90 cm (35 in) wide with several main stems and a few side branches. Its leaves are elliptic or egg-shaped, 4–7 mm (0.16–0.28 in) long, with translucent edges. [2]

The flowers are lightly scented and arranged in rounded groups near the ends of the branches, each flower on a stalk 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long. The floral cup is top-shaped, about 3 mm (0.12 in) long and glabrous with small appendages around its edge. The sepals are green, 5–8 mm (0.20–0.31 in) long with ten to thirteen cream to pink, feathery lobes and two small, ear-like, hairy appendages. The petals are cream to reddish or purplish, erect, 8–9 mm (0.31–0.35 in) long, oblong to wedge-shaped and strap-like with a deeply divided outer edge. The style is 7–8 mm (0.28–0.31 in) long, straight and densely hairy near the tip. Flowering time is from August to December. [2]

Taxonomy and naming

Verticordia ovalifolia was first formally described by Carl Meisner in 1857 from a specimen collected by James Drummond and the description was published in Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany. [3] [4] The specific epithet (ovalifolia) is "from the Latin ovalis (oval) and folium (a leaf), in reference to the leaf shape". [2]

When Alex George reviewed the genus Verticordia in 1991, he placed this species in subgenus Eperephes, the only species in section Corynatoca. [5]

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia usually grows in sand, sometimes with lateritic gravel, often with other species of Verticordia, usually in heath and shrubland. It occurs in two disjunct areas between Perth and Geraldton and another between Dumbleyung and Lake King in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions. [2] [6]

Conservation status

Verticordia ovalifolia is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife. [6]

Use in horticulture

Oval-leaved featherflower is described as "a beautiful, attractively foliaged shrub" which has been grown in gardens and in pots in a range of well-drained soils. It is usually propagated from cuttings although it can also be grown from seed. Grafting onto Chamelaucium uncinatum rootstock has produced bushy shrubs that bear large numbers of flowers. [2]

Related Research Articles

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

Verticordia huegelii, commonly known as variegated featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a sometimes an erect shrub, sometimes sprawling to almost prostrate. It has linear leaves and very feathery flowers in spring. The flowers are usually cream-coloured or white, becoming pinkish and reddish or maroon as the flowers age, giving a variegated appearance to the display.

Verticordia forrestii, commonly known as Forrest's featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with small, egg-shaped leaves and massed displays of scented pink to red flowers in spring.

Verticordia crebra, commonly known as Barrens featherflower, crowded featherflower or Twertup featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with crowded, cylinder-shaped leaves with small, yellow flowers that are almost hidden by the leaves but with a style which extends well beyond the petals. The plant looks superficially like a miniature pine tree.

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

Verticordia cunninghamii, commonly known as tree featherflower or liandu, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to an area in the extreme north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is a spindly shrub or small tree with narrow leaves and cream to white, sweetly scented, feathery flowers.

<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.

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

Verticordia halophila, commonly known as salt-loving featherflower, or salt-loving verticordia, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with small, crowded, thick leaves and spikes of red and pink flowers in spring.

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

Verticordia helichrysantha, commonly known as coast featherflower or Barrens featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, woody, open-branched shrub with crowded, linear leaves and small yellow flowers from May to September.

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

Verticordia spicata, commonly known as spiked featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is usually a dense, bushy shrub with small leaves pressed against the stem and spikes of pink flowers from late spring to early summer.

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

Verticordia venusta is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an openly branched shrub with small, egg-shaped leaves and spikes of pink to maroon-coloured flowers in spring and early summer.

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

Verticordia chrysostachys is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an open-branched shrub with egg-shaped to almost circular leaves, and spike-like groups of cream-coloured or deep yellow flowers.

<i>Verticordia etheliana</i> Species of shrub

Verticordia etheliana 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 highly branched main stem, egg-shaped to almost round leaves and spike-like groups of bright red flowers with greenish-cream centres.

Verticordia lepidophylla is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is usually a bushy shrub with small leaves and spikes of creamish-green to yellow flowers in spikes along the branches in late spring to early summer.

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

Verticordia mitchelliana, commonly known as rapier featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with bright red, rapier-like flowers in spring and early summer, which readily distinguish it from other species. It is commonly grown in private gardens and some forms have larger flowers than those usually found in the wild.

Verticordia muelleriana is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an openly branched shrub with relatively large, egg-shaped to circular leaves and long spikes of deep maroon coloured flowers in spring and early summer.

Verticordia paludosa is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an openly branched shrub with small leaves and pink to magenta flowers with spreading, feathery sepals and erect, fringed petals in summer and autumn.

Verticordia pholidophylla is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with a single branch at the base and many side branches with overlapping yellowish leaves and greenish-white to cream, cup-shaped, feathery flowers.

Verticordia serotina is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with egg-shaped leaves and bright pink flowers with long, curved styles in spring.

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

Verticordia tumida, commonly known as summer featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the north-west of Western Australia. It is an open shrub with very small leaves and clusters of deep pink flowers from late spring to early winter.

Verticordia wonganensis is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub which grows near Wongan Hills and has a single main stem, small leaves and spike-like groups of large, pink, feathery flowers.

Verticordia × eurardyensis, commonly known as Eurardy magenta, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub similar to both Verticordia dichroma and Verticordia spicata which grow in the same area and is thought to be a stable hybrid between those two species. It has mostly egg-shaped leaves and spike-like groups of dark magenta-coloured flowers which fade to straw-coloured, in late spring and early summer.

References

  1. "Verticordia ovalifolia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Elizabeth A. (Berndt) George; Margaret Pieroni (illustrator) (2002). Verticordia: the turner of hearts (1st ed.). Crawley, Western Australia: University of Western Australia Press. pp. 360–361. ISBN   1-876268-46-8.
  3. "Verticordia ovalifolia". APNI. Retrieved 8 July 2016.
  4. Meisner, Carl (1857). "On some new species of Chamaelauciae". Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany. 1: 40–41. Retrieved 7 July 2016.
  5. George, Alex (1991). "New taxa, combinations and typifications in Verticordia (Myrtaceae : Chamelaucieae)". Nuytsia. 7 (3): 283.
  6. 1 2 "Verticordia ovalifolia". FloraBase . Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.