''Calothamnus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

of shrubs in the family Myrtaceae and 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 else ...

to the

south-west 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 se ...

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 ...

. The common names one-sided bottlebrush or claw flower are given to some species due to their having the flowers clustered on one side of the stem or because of the claw-like appearance of their flowers. ''Calothamnus'' species are generally medium to tall woody shrubs with crowded leaves. In most species the leaves are crowded and linear in shape, and the flowers are usually arranged in dense clusters. The petals are small and fall off the flower soon after it opens but the stamens are long, numerous and usually bright red.

Description

Plants in the genus ''Calothamnus'' are medium to tall shrubs, sometimes low-growing ground covers. The leaves are linear or narrow lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, usually

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 ...

and have distinct oil glands. The flowers are in small groups or dense spikes on leafless, older stems or between the leaves on younger ones. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s are fused to form a bell-shaped cup which is often immersed in the branch and there are four or five petals which usually fall off after the flower has opened. There are many stamens, joined for a large proportion of their length into four or five "claws". In some species the upper two claws are fused together and the lower ones are shorter. The stamens are brightly coloured, crimson to a deep purple or rarely yellow. The fruit is a woody capsule. Calothamnus graniticus subsp

Taxonomy and naming

The first species in the genus to be described was '' Calothamnus sanguineus''. It was first formally described in 1806 by the French biologist

Jacques Labillardière Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (28 October 1755 – 8 January 1834) was a French biologist noted for his descriptions of the flora of Australia. Labillardière was a member of a voyage in search of the La Pérouse expedition. He pub ...

in ''

Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen ''Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen'' is a two-volume work describing the flora of Australia. Facsimiles of the originals can be found in the onlinBiodiversity Heritage Library (Vol.1)anVol 2) The author was the French botanist Jacques Labillar ...

, Volume 2''. The name ''Calothamnus'' is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words ''kalos'' meaning "beautiful" and ''thamnos'' meaning "a shrub" or "a bush". In 2014,

Lyndley Craven Lyndley Alan Craven (3 September 1945 – 11 July 2014) was a botanist who became the Principal Research Scientist of the Australian National Herbarium. Lyndley ("Lyn") Craven worked for the CSIRO plant taxonomy unit of the New Guinea Survey Gr ...

and others proposed, mainly on the basis of DNA evidence, that species in the genus ''Calothamnus'', along with those in '' Beaufortia'', '' Conothamnus'', '' Eremaea'', '' Lamarchea'', ''

Petraeomyrtus ''Melaleuca punicea'' is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae, and is endemic to the Northern Territory in Australia. Some of the characteristics of this species make it difficult to classify at the genus level. After it was originally desc ...

'', '' Phymatocarpus'' and ''

Regelia ''Regelia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The genus is composed of five species of small leaved, evergreen shrubs which have heads of flowers on the ends of bran ...

'' be transferred to '' Melaleuca''.

Distribution and habitat

All ''Calothamnus'' species are found in the south west botanical province of Western Australia. Some (such as '' Calothamnus aridus'') are adapted to a dry environment whilst others (such as '' Calothamnus hirsutus'') are often found near swamps.

Use in horticulture

Most species of ''Calothamnus'' have been grown in gardens but need full sun and good drainage. Propagation is usually from seeds which are retained in the hard fruits throughout the life of the plant but cuttings can be used to retain the colour of yellow forms.

Species list

The following is a list of species recognised by the

Western Australian Herbarium The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Parks and Wildlife, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Austr ...

: *'' Calothamnus accedens'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus affinis'' Turcz. *'' Calothamnus arcuatus''

A.S.George Alexander Segger George (born 4 April 1939) is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera ''Banksia'' and ''Dryandra''. The "bizarre" Restionaceae genus '' Alexgeorgea'' was named in his honour in 1976. Early life A ...

*'' Calothamnus aridus'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus blepharospermus''

F.Muell. Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vic ...

*'' Calothamnus borealis'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus brevifolius'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus chrysanthereus''

- Claw flower *'' Calothamnus cupularis''

*'' Calothamnus formosus'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus gibbosus'' Benth. *'' Calothamnus gilesii''

*'' Calothamnus glaber'' ( Benth.)

*'' Calothamnus gracilis'' R.Br. *'' Calothamnus graniticus'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus hirsutus'' Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus huegelii'' Schauer *'' Calothamnus lateralis''

Lindl. John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley ...

*'' Calothamnus lehmannii'' Schauer *'' Calothamnus longissimus''

*'' Calothamnus macrocarpus Hawkeswood *'' Calothamnus microcarpus''

*'' Calothamnus montanus''

*'' Calothamnus oldfieldii''

*'' Calothamnus pachystachyus'' Benth. *'' Calothamnus phellosus''

*'' Calothamnus pinifolius''

- Dense claw-flower *'' Calothamnus planifolius''

Lehm. Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (25 February 1792 – 12 February 1860) was a German botanist. Born at Haselau, near Uetersen, Duchy of Holstein, Holstein, Lehmann studied medicine in Copenhagen and Göttingen, obtained a doctorate in medicine ...

*'' Calothamnus preissii'' Schauer *''

Calothamnus quadrifidus ''Calothamnus quadrifidus'', commonly known as one-sided bottlebrush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The common name alludes to the arrangement of the flowers in the infloresce ...

'' R.Br. - One-sided bottlebrush *'' Calothamnus robustus'' Schauer *'' Calothamnus roseus''

*'' Calothamnus rupestris'' Schauer - Mouse ears *'' Calothamnus sanguineus'' Labill. - Silky-leaved blood-flower *'' Calothamnus scabridus''

*''

Calothamnus schaueri ''Calothamnus schaueri'' is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, spreading, sometimes prostrate shrub, growing to a height of about with cylindrical leaves long. It has ...

*'' Calothamnus superbus'' Hawkeswood & Mollemans *'' Calothamnus torulosus'' Schauer *'' Calothamnus tuberosus'' Hawkeswood *''

Calothamnus validus ''Calothamnus validus'', commonly known as Barrens clawflower, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an upright or rounded shrub with stiff, cylindrical but not sharply pointed le ...

S.Moore Spencer Le Marchant Moore (1 November 1850 – 14 March 1931) was an English botanist. Biography Moore was born in Hampstead. He worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from about 1870 to 1879, wrote a number of botanical papers, and then work ...

- Barrens claw-flower *'' Calothamnus villosus'' R.Br.

References

{{- Myrtaceae genera Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Taxa named by Jacques Labillardière Endemic flora of Southwest Australia