''Calothamnus blepharospermus'' is a plant in the myrtle family,

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

and is endemic to the west coast of Western Australia. It is an upright, spreading, bushy shrub with red flowers in summer. It grows in sandy soil in scrubby country called

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 ...

. (In 2014

Craven Craven may refer to: * Craven in the Domesday Book, an area of Yorkshire, England, larger area than the district ** Craven District, a local government district of North Yorkshire formed in 1974 Places * Craven, New South Wales, Australia, see ...

, Edwards and Cowley proposed that the species be renamed ''Melaleuca blepharosperma''.)

Description

''Calothamnus blepharospermus'' is a shrub growing to a height of with leaves in length and wide, very narrow egg-shaped with the narrow end towards the base, the other end tapering to a sharp point. The flowers are red with the stamens arranged in five bundles, each long, the outer surface of the petals, the flower stalk and the hypanthium all densely hairy. Flowering occurs in January to February or in July and is followed by fruits which are woody capsules about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Calothamnus blepharospermus'' was first formally described in 1862 by

Ferdinand von Mueller 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 Vict ...

from a specimen found "in desert near the Murchison River by Oldfield". 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 ...

''blepharospermus'' is derived from the Greek words ''blepharon'' meaning "eyelid" and ''sperma, spermatos'' meaning "seed".

Distribution and habitat

''Calothamnus blepharospermus'' occurs in the Geraldton Sandplains, Yalgoo

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

where it grows in sand or sandy clay on plains and sand dunes.

Conservation status

''Calothamnus blepharospermus'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396531 blepharospermus Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1862 Endemic flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller