''Calectasia hispida'', commonly known as blue tinsel lily or hispid tinsel lily, is a plant in the family

Dasypogonaceae Dasypogonaceae is a family of flowering plants, one that has not been commonly recognized by taxonomists; the plants it contains were usually included in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae. If valid, Dasypogonaceae includes four genera with 16 species. ...

growing as a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

, erect, clumping

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the south-west of

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 ...

and is common in most of its range. It is similar to the other species of ''

Calectasia ''Calectasia'' is a genus of about fifteen species of flowering plants in the family Dasypogonaceae and is endemic to south-western Australia. Plants is this genus are small, erect shrubs with branched stems covered by leaf sheaths. The flowers ...

'' and is distinguished from them mainly by the hairiness of its leaves and the

glabrousness Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

of the throat of the flowers.

Description

''Calectasia hispida'' is an undershrub without stilt roots but with a short rhizome from which it is able to form clones. It grows to a height of about 45 cm with many very short side branches. Each leaf blade is 3.9–10.3 x 0.4–0.7 mm tapering to a short, sharp point on the end and

hispid Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a pl ...

(that is, covered with rigid, bristly hairs). The base of the petals (strictly

tepals A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

) form a tube 6.8–9.0 mm long, which, unlike most others in the genus, is

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

. The outer part of the petals spread outwards to form a blue, papery, star-like pattern which fades to pale blue with age. In the centre of the star are six yellow stamens forming a tube which turns orange-red with age. The thin style extends beyond the stamens. Flowers appear from May to June or September.

Taxonomy and naming

''Calectasia hispida'' is one of eleven species in the genus ''Calectasia''. It was described as a new species in 2001 by R.L. Barrett and K.W. Dixon from a specimen collected on Coalara Road, 28.8 kilometres north of Watheroo Road in the

Watheroo National Park Watheroo National Park is a national park in Western Australia, 187 km north of Perth. It contains Jingemia Cave. The park is situated in the Mid West region of Western Australia to the west of the Midlands Road between the towns of Badgi ...

. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''hispida'') refers to the hairy covering of the leaf blades.

Distribution and habitat

This species of blue tinsel lily is relatively common between Gillingarra (near

New Norcia New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

) and Eneabba and common in

Watheroo Watheroo is a small town in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. There are 137 residents, according to the . History Land in the area was settled by James Oliver in 1851, the area was surveyed in 1871 and the name Watheroo was charted fo ...

and Alexander Morrison national parks. It usually grows in shallow white or grey sand over

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

kwongan Kwongan is plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun (Noongar) Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as ...

slopes.

Conservation status

''Calectasia hispida'' is classified as not threatened,

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15587765 hispida Endemic flora of Western Australia Commelinids of Australia Plants described in 2001