Lawrencia ''Lawrencia'' is a plant genus in the family Malvaceae. The genus is endemic to Australia. Systematics Species include: *''Lawrencia berthae'' (F.Muell.) Melville - Showy Lawrencia *''Lawrencia buchananensis'' Lander *''Lawrencia chrysoderma ...

densiflora'' is a species of

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

in the mallow

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 ...

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

. It is endemic to

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 ...

Description

''L. densiflora'' is a perennial shrub/herb, growing to a height from 0.07 to 0.6 m. The stems are hairy. The leaves are irregularly lobed, 10 to 40 mm long and 5 to 20 mm wide, with stellate hairs. The flowers have both a calyx and a corolla, and are yellow to cream and seen between July and October.

Habitat

It grows on limestone and sandy or clayey soils, and is found in dry watercourses, claypans, salty depressions and limestone ridges.

Distribution

It is found in Beard's Eremaean Province and in the

IBRA regions The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities. It was devel ...

of Carnarvon,

Gascoyne The Gascoyne region is one of the nine administrative regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gasc ...

Little Sandy Desert The Little Sandy Desert (LSD) is a desert region in the state of Western Australia, lying to the east of the Pilbara and north of the Gascoyne regions. It is part of the Western Desert cultural region, and was declared an interim Australian ...

, Murchison,

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a glo ...

and Yalgoo.

Taxonomy

''L. densiflora'' was first described as ''Plagianthus densiflorus'' by

Baker A baker is a tradesperson who bakes and sometimes sells breads and other products made of flour by using an oven or other concentrated heat source. The place where a baker works is called a bakery. History Ancient history Since grains ha ...

in 1892, and in 1967, was redescribed by Melville who assigned it to the genus, ''

'', with the plant thereby becoming ''Lawrencia densiflora''.

References

densiflora Flora of Western Australia {{Malveae-stub