''Kunzea eriocalyx'' 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 a small area on the south coast of Western Australia. It is a shrub with spreading main stems with a few short side branches and which grows to a height of . It blooms between August and October producing pink flowers.

Description

''Kunzea eriocalyx'' is a shrub with spreading stems with a few short branches and which grows to a height of . The leaves are mostly clustered on the ends of the side branches which also have groups of flowers in the flowering season. The leaves are linear, more or less shaped like a baseball bat, long and less than wide with a petiole up to long. The flowers are arranged in heads of mostly five to seven on the ends of the side branches. The flowers are surrounded by hairy

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 long and wide and shorter pairs of bracteoles. The

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

is long and the five sepals are lance-shaped, hairy and about long. The five

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 are long and pink and there eleven to fifteen

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. Flowering occurs between August and October and is followed by fruit which are urn-shaped capsules with the sepals attached.

Taxonomy and naming

''Kunzea clavata'' was first formally described in 1860 by the

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

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 ...

and the description was published in the work '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''. The

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimen was collected in the

Middle Mount Barren Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

. 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 ...

(''eriocalyx'') is derived from the Ancient Greek words ''erion'' meaning "wool" and ''kalyx'' meaning "cup", "outer envelope of a flower" or sepals.

Distribution and habitat

Often found among rocky outcrops of quartzite, ''K. eriocalyx'' grows in a small area on the coast at the boundary of the Great Southern and Goldfields-Esperance regions of Western Australia centred around the Fitzgerald River National Park where it grows in sandy clay soils of laterite.

Conservation

''Kunzea eriocalyx'' is classified as " Priority Two" 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 ...

meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15368577 eriocalyx Endemic flora of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Vulnerable flora of Australia Plants described in 1860 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller