''Darwinia whicherensis'', commonly known as the Abba bell, is a plant in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

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 linear leaves and bell-shaped, flower-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 ...

s containing more than twenty flowers surrounded by

bract 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, the largest of which are red with green edges.

Description

''Darwinia whicherensis'' is an erect or spreading shrub which grows to a height of , a width of and often uses surrounding vegetation for support. Its leaves are green, linear in shape, triangular in cross-section, long, often crowded at the end of branches and can bend backwards. The flowers are arranged in groups of between 22 and 24, surrounded by several rows of bracts, the largest of which are long and about wide. The inflorescences are bell-shaped and hang down. The individual flowers have white

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 and the style is red, curved and long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Darwinia whicherensis'' was first formally described in 2009 by

Greg Keighery Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people *Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...

from a specimen collected from the base of the

Whicher Range Whicher Range, also known as Whicher Scarp, is a range in the South West region of Western Australia. The range has an average elevation of above sea level. Bounded by the Swan Coastal Plain to the west and the south, the Darling Scarp to th ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...

and the description was published in

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

. 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 ...

(''whicherensis'') refers to the location where 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 ...

was found.

Distribution and habitat

Abba bell is only known from the type location at the base of the Whicher Range, covering a total area of . It grows on shallow sandy clay in winter-wet flats in '' Dryandra squarrosa'' shrubland.

Conservation

''Darwinia whicherensis'' 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 ...

under Western Australia's

Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 The ''Wildlife Conservation Act 1950'' is an act of the Western Australian Parliament that provides the statute relating to conservation and legal protection of flora and fauna. Text was copied from this source, which is available under Attrib ...

and as "Endangered" (EN) under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) as a result of having a single wild population comprising a very low number of mature individuals and the restricted area of occupancy of the species. The principal threats to the species are fire and disease caused by '' Phytophthora cinnamomi'' and ''

Armillaria luteobubalina ''Armillaria luteobubalina'', commonly known as the Australian honey fungus, is a species of mushroom in the family Physalacriaceae. Widely distributed in southern Australia, the fungus is responsible for a disease known as ''Armillaria'' root ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17592540 whicherensis Endemic flora of Western Australia Rosids of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 2009 Taxa named by Gregory John Keighery