Petrophile biternata
Near Dandaragan

Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species:
P. biternata
Binomial name
Petrophile biternata
Synonyms[1]

Petrophila biternata Meisn. orth. var.

Petrophile biternata is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to southwestern Western Australia. It is a shrub with biternate or pinnate, sharply-pointed leaves, and oval or spherical heads of glabrous, sticky, yellow flowers.

Description

Petrophile biternata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) and has more or less glabrous branchlets. The leaves are biternate or pinnate, 20–70 mm (0.79–2.76 in) long on a petiole 12–28 mm (0.47–1.10 in) long with five to ten flat, sharply-pointed lobes. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in oval to spherical heads 20–25 mm (0.79–0.98 in) long, with short, sticky involucral bracts at the base. The flowers are 12–17 mm (0.47–0.67 in) long, yellow or creamy yellow, glabrous and sticky. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is a nut, fused with others in an oval head about 25 mm (0.98 in) long.[2][3]

Taxonomy

Petrophile biternata was first formally described in 1855 by Carl Meissner in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany from material collected by James Drummond between the Moore and Murchison Rivers.[4][5] The specific epithet (biternata) refers to the leaves.[6]

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in shrubland and heath in scattered populations in the Moora-Watheroo areas and near New Norcia, in southwestern Western Australia.[2][3]

Conservation status

Petrophile biternata is classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife[3] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 "Petrophile biternata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 Foreman, David B. "Petrophile biternata". Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  3. 1 2 3 "Petrophile biternata". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ↑ "Petrophile biternata". APNI. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
  5. ↑ Meissner, Carl (1855). "New Proteaceae of Australia". Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Gardens Miscellany. 7: 68. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
  6. ↑ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 147. ISBN 9780958034180.
  7. ↑ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 3 December 2020.
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