''Kunzea acicularis'' is a 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 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. It is a shrub with a few erect stems, small and groups of three to five, pink to mauve flowers. It is a rare, recently described species only known from a small area near

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

Description

''Kunzea acicularis'' is a shrub which grows to a height of up to , with a few erect, irregularly-branched stems which are covered with fine hairs when young. The leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, densely hairy, long, about wide, with a stalk less than long. Three to five pink to mauve flowers are arranged in groups on the ends of branches. The flowers are surrounded by hairy, narrow triangular

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 and bracteoles about long and wide. The sepals are about long and hairy and the five petals are long and almost round. There are about 26

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s which are usually longer than the petals and a style long. Flowering occurs in October and November and is followed by fruit which are hairy urn-shaped capsules with the sepals attached.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 2007 by Hellmut Toelken and Gil Craig and the description was published in '' Nuytsia''. 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 ...

(acicularis) is a Latin word meaning "like a needle" referring to the needle-like bracts.

Distribution and habitat

This kunzea grows in mallee and heath on hills and slopes north-east of Ravensthorpe in the Esperance Plains

biogeographic region An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Conservation

''Kunzea acicularis'' 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 an interim recovery plan has been prepared.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15367978 acicularis Endemic flora of Western Australia Critically endangered flora of Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 2007 Taxa named by Hellmut R. Toelken