''Adenanthos glabrescens'' is a species of small shrub endemic to the

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

area in

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. First published in 1978, there are two subspecies.

Description

''Adenanthos glabrescens'' grows as an erect shrub up to 70 cm in height. It has pinkish red or cream flowers, with a

perianth The perianth (perigonium, perigon or perigone in monocots) is the non-reproductive part of the flower, and structure that forms an envelope surrounding the sexual organs, consisting of the calyx (sepals) and the corolla ( petals) or tepals when ...

tube about 22 mm long, and a

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

about 35 mm long. Leaves are usually entire and oval-shaped, but may rarely by lobed. They grow to 25 mm in length, and about 6 mm wide. The species is quite similar to '' A. dobsonii'', but the leaves of ''A. dobsonii'' retain an

indumentum In biology, an indumentum (Latin, literally: "garment") is a covering of trichomes (fine "hairs") on a plant Davis, Peter Hadland and Heywood, Vernon Hilton (1963) ''Principles of angiosperm taxonomy'' Van Nostrandpage, Princeton, New Jersey, pa ...

of soft hairs both long and short, whereas those of ''A. glabrescens'' have an indumentum of short hairs only, which is soon lost.

Taxonomy

There are botanical collections attributable to this species dating back at least to 1924, but it was not until 1978 that

Ernest Charles Nelson (Ernest) Charles Nelson (15 September 1951, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a botanist who specialises in the heather family, Ericaceae, especially ''Erica'', and whose past research interests included the Proteaceae especially '' Adenanthos''. H ...

published the species in his comprehensive taxonomic revision of the genus. Nelson based the species on a type specimen collected by himself from a sand ridge on the western edge of

Lake King Lake King is a town in the eastern Wheatbelt region of Western Australia, from Perth along State Route 40 between Kelmscott and Ravensthorpe. As of 2016, the town had a population of 95. The 2011 census recorded both the population of the tow ...

in 1973, giving it the specific epithet ''glabrescens'', from the botanical term "glabrescent", meaning "losing hairs"; this is a reference to the leaf indumentum, which, unlike that of ''A. dobsonii'', does not persist. Nelson followed

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

in dividing ''Adenanthos'' into two sections, placing ''A. glabrescens'' into ''A.'' sect. ''Adenanthos'' because its perianth tube is fairly straight, and not swollen above the middle. He further divided the section into two subsections, with ''A. glabrescens'' placed into ''A.'' subsect. ''Adenanthos'' for reasons including the length of its perianth. However Nelson discarded his own subsections in his 1995 treatment of ''Adenanthos'' for the ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 30,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

'' series of monographs. Two subspecies were recognised: * ''A. glabrescens'' subsp. ''glabrescens'' has long narrow leaves and a

lignotuber A lignotuber is a woody swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem, such as by fire. Other woody plants may develop basal burls as a similar survival strategy, often as a response t ...

. It occurs in deep siliceous sand in the vicinity of, and south of, Lake King. * ''A. glabrescens'' subsp. ''exasperatus'' has ovate leaves much like those of ''A. dobsonii'', and lacks a lignotuber. It occurs in gravelly sand on rocky slopes, and is known only from two populations, one in the

Fitzgerald River National Park Fitzgerald River National Park is a national park in the Shires of Ravensthorpe and the Jerramungup in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is recognised on Australia's National Heritage List for its outstanding diversity of nativ ...

, the other east of

. The placement and circumscription of ''A. glabrescens'' in Nelson's arrangement of ''Adenanthos'' may be summarised as follows: :''

Adenanthos ''Adenanthos'' is a genus of Australian native shrubs in the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Variable in habit and leaf shape, it is the only genus in the family where solitary flowers are the norm. It was discovered in 1791, and formally publ ...

'' :: ''A.'' sect. ''Eurylaema'' (4 species) :: ''A.'' sect. ''Adenanthos'' :::'' A. drummondii'' :::'' A. dobagii'' :::'' A. apiculatus'' :::'' A. linearis'' :::'' A. pungens'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. gracilipes'' :::'' A. venosus'' :::'' A. dobsonii'' :::''A. glabrescens'' :::: ''A. glabrescens'' subsp. ''glabrescens'' :::: ''A. glabrescens'' subsp. ''exasperatus'' :::'' A. ellipticus'' :::'' A. cuneatus'' :::'' A. stictus'' :::'' A. ileticos'' :::'' A. forrestii'' :::'' A. eyrei'' :::'' A. cacomorphus'' :::'' A. flavidiflorus'' :::'' A. argyreus'' :::'' A. macropodianus'' :::'' A. terminalis'' :::'' A. sericeus'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. × cunninghamii'' :::'' A. oreophilus'' :::'' A. cygnorum'' (2 subspecies) :::'' A. meisneri'' :::'' A. velutinus'' :::'' A. filifolius'' :::'' A. labillardierei'' :::'' A. acanthophyllus'' The species is most closely related to ''A. dobsonii''.

Distribution and habitat

''Adenanthos glabrescens'' occurs only around

. It is known from populations are and south of

, in the Fitzgerald River area, and east of Ravensthorpe. It grows in deep sand and gravelly sand, amongst scrub.

Cultivation

The species is in cultivation at the Australian National Botanic Gardens, but is otherwise little known to gardeners. It probably has little potential as a garden plant, though may be of use in

rockery A rock garden, also known as a rockery and formerly as a rockwork, is a garden, or more often a part of a garden, with a landscaping framework of rocks, stones, and gravel, with planting appropriate to this setting. Usually these are small ...

gardens.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q4682199 glabrescens Eudicots of Western Australia