''Kunzea micromera'' 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 of Western Australia. It is a small, sparse shrub, similar in some respects to '' K. micrantha'' but has shorter, more rounded sepal lobes. It produces groups of pink flowers on the ends of a few long shoots in spring.

Description

''Kunzea micromera'' is sparsely branched shrub which typically grows to a height of , usually with a few main stems each with a few side branches. The leaves are elliptic to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, mostly long and about wide with a petiole less than long. The flowers are arranged in heads of mostly twelve to twenty on the ends of a few long shoots. The flowers are surrounded by egg-shaped

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 which are long and wide and mostly glabrous and by pairs of slightly smaller 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 about long and glabrous. The five sepals are egg-shaped with a rounded end, glabrous 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 pink, egg-shaped to almost round, long and wide. There are 14 to 22

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 long in several rows in each flower. Flowering occurs between August and November and is followed by fruit which are urn-shaped capsules with an obvious bulge and with the sepals remaining.

Taxonomy and naming

''Kunzea micromera'' was first formally described in 1848 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 ...

Johannes Conrad Schauer in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's work ''

Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss'', more commonly known as ''Plantae preissianae'', is a book written by Johann Georg Christian Leh ...

''. 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 ...

(''micromera'') is derived from the ancient Greek words () meaning "small" and () meaning "part".Backer, C.A. (1936). ''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).

Distribution and habitat

Often found in wet depressions and the margins of swamps between Stokes Inlet, Albany, Narrogin and Newdegate in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee,

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

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 ...

, ''K. micromera'' grows in sandy or clay soils.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15369258 micromera Endemic flora of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1848