''Lasiopetalum pterocarpum'', commonly known as wing-fruited lasiopetalum, is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to a restricted area in the south-west of Western Australia. It is an open shrub with many densely hairy stems, egg-shaped and lobed leaves and pink and dark red flowers.

Description

''Lasiopetalum pterocarpum'' is an open shrub typically high and wide, its many stems densely covered with rust-coloured and white, star-shaped hairs, at least when young. The leaves are egg-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long, the edges of the leaves lobed. The leaves are covered with white and rust-coloured, star-shaped hairs, but become glabrous with age. The flowers are arranged in loose groups of five to eight on a rusty-hairy

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

long, each flower on a pedicel long with an oblong

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 ...

long at the base. There is a single bracteole long at the base of the sepals. The sepals are pink with a dark red to purple base, the lobes long, and hairy on the back. There are no petals, the

anthers 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 filam ...

are dark purple, long on filaments about long. Flowering occurs from August to December and the fruit have six or more distinct wings.

Taxonomy

''Lasiopetalum pterocarpum'' was first formally described in 2006 by Eleanor Marion Bennett and

Kelly Anne Shepherd Kelly Anne Shepherd (born 1970) is an Australian botanist, who has published some 91 names. Career Shepherd earned a B.Sc. (Hon) in 1992 with a thesis entitled "Faecal Analysis of Mammalian Herbivores in the Perup Forest, Western Australia." ...

in the journal '' Nuytsia'' from specimens collected in Serpentine National Park in 1995. 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 ...

(''pterocarpum'') means "winged fruit".

Distribution and habitat

This lasiopetalum is only known from a single population in Serpentine National Park, where it grows in woodland on sloping banks and near creeks.

Conservation status

''Lasiopetalum pterocarpum'' is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and as Threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is in danger of extinction.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17580572 pterocarpum Malvales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 2006