''Lechenaultia brevifolia'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Goodeniaceae Goodeniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Asterales. It contains about 404 species in twelve genera. The family is distributed mostly in Australia, except for the genus '' Scaevola'', which is pantropical. Its species are found ac ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to inland south-western Western Australia. It is a tufted, sparsely-branched subshrub with crowded, narrow, fleshy leaves and white and blue, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Lechenaultia brevifolia'' is a tufted, sparsely-branched subshrub that typically grows to a height of up to and often forms suckers. The leaves are

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

, crowded, long, narrow and fleshy. The flowers are arranged in loose clusters, the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s long and glabrous. The petals are usually white with dark blue wings and petal lobes, long, the lower petal lobes triangular, wide and the upper lobes wide. Flowering occurs from July to December and the fruit is long.

Taxonomy

''Lechenaultia brevifolia'' was first formally described in 1987 by David A. Morrison in the journal '' Brunonia'' from specimens collected by

Richard Helms Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) was an American government official and diplomat who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. Helms began intelligence work with the Office of Strategic Ser ...

in 1891. The specific epithet (''brevifolia'') means "short-leaved".

Distribution and habitat

''Lechenaultia brevifolia'' grows in low heath and scrub between

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

and the Cape Arid National Park in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

, Coolgardie,

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cros ...

and Mallee biogeographic regions of inland, south-western Western Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17480184 brevifolia Garden plants of Australia Plants described in 1987