''Darwinia carnea'', commonly known as Mogumber bell or Narrogin bell,
is a species of flowering 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
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
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 ...
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 ...
. It is a small shrub with narrow, keeled leaves and flowers in groups of about eight, surrounded by yellowish-green to pinkish-red
bracteole
In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...
s. It occurs in small, isolated populations near the towns which contribute to its common names. It is the only "bell-flowered" ''
Darwinia'' to not grow in the
Stirling Range National Park
Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately south-east of Perth.
Description
It protects the Stirling Ranges, or Koikyennuruff, a range o ...
.
Description
''Darwinia carnea'' is a shrub growing to high with leaves arranged in opposite pairs, each pair at right-angles to the pair above. The leaves are
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 ...
, roughly V-shaped in cross-section, linear to lance-shaped, mostly long and about wide.
The flowers are arranged near the ends of the branches in groups of 10 to 14, each group surrounded by broad, glabrous, egg-shaped yellowish-green to pinkish-red bracteoles up to long. Individual flowers within this bell-like
inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
are tubular, have blunt-tipped, egg-shaped
petal
Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...
s, long and wide. Flowering occurs between October and December and is followed by fruit which is a small, non-fleshy nut.
The form occurring near
Mogumber is taller, growing up to , has larger flowers and differently coloured bracteoles than the one found near
Narrogin.
Taxonomy
The first formal description of ''D. carnea'' was published by
Charles Gardner in 1923 in ''
Royal Society of Western Australia
The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia.
The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...
''. He collected the
type specimen
In biology, a type is a particular wiktionary:en:specimen, specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to a ...
between Mogumber and
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, ...
.
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 ...
(''carnea'') is a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word meaning "flesh"
referring to the colour of the floral bracts.
Distribution and habitat
The two forms of this darwinia are separated by and differ from each other in some respects. There is only one small population near Narrogin and three near Mogumber, all on private property. They occur on gravelly hilltops or
lateritic
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 ...
breakaways in
heath
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler ...
y
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...
. Three
translocated populations have been established in nature reserves.
Conservation
''Darwinia carnea'' is classified as "
Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)" 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 ...
and a Recovery Plan has been prepared.
It has also been listed as "Endangered" (EN) under the Australian Government
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...
(EPBC Act).
This darwinia may always have been rare. In the 1980s, a visiting botanist is alleged to have warned a property owner of the existence of the plant on his property, warned the farmer to look after the darwinia by fencing off a , but would not tell him precisely where the plant was found. The farmer was not prepared to fence off such a large paddock from his sheep. On a subsequent visit to the property, botanists were unable to find any ''D. carnea''.
Use in horticulture
''Darwinia carnea'' is reasonably well known in gardens but requires excellent drainage and needs some overhead protection. It can be grown from cuttings but more success has been achieved by
grafting
Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion () while the lower part is called the rootstock. The succ ...
onto ''
Darwinia citriodora
''Darwinia citriodora'', commonly known as lemon-scented darwinia or lemon scented myrtle, is a plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is Endemism, endemic to the Southwest Australia, south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with oblong t ...
''
rootstock
A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It could also be described as a stem with a well developed root system, to which a bud from another plant is grafted. It can refer to a ...
.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15396504
carnea
Carneia ( grc, Κάρνεια or ) or Carnea () was one of the tribal traditional festivals of Sparta, the Peloponnese and Doric cities in Magna Grecia, held in honor of Apollo Karneios. Whether Carneus (or Carnus) was originally an old Pe ...
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Endangered flora of Australia
Myrtales of Australia
Rosids of Western Australia
Plants described in 1923
Narrogin, Western Australia