''Muiriantha'' is a genus of plant containing the single species ''Muiriantha hassellii'' 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 elsew ...

to the south coast of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with branchlets covered sparsely in hairs, leathery leaves and yellowish-green pendulous flowers.

Description

''Muiriantha hassellii'' is a small under shrub to high with branchlets sparsely covered in soft, thin, separated, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are arranged alternately, aromatic, upright, narrowly elliptic, long, leathery, smooth and sparsely covered in soft hairs. The fragrant

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

are terminal on branches, tubular long, pendulous with small to medium sized

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. The 5 yellowish-green petals are narrowly oblong to elliptic, rounded at the end, with a purple or green centre stripe,

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

long and soft and weak hairs toward the petals apex. The spreading, dry fruit capsule ends in a sharp, short point. Flowering occurs from April to October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Muiriantha hassellii'' was first formally described in 1887 by

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 ...

, who gave it the name ''Chorilaena hassellii'' and published the description in the

Victorian Naturalist ''The Victorian Naturalist'' is a bimonthly scientific journal covering natural history, especially of Australia. It is published by the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria and is received as part of the membership subscription of that club. From ...

. In 1933

Charles Austin Gardner Charles Austin Gardner (6 January 1896 – 24 February 1970) was an English-born Western Australian botanist. Biography Born in Lancaster, in England, on 6 January 1896, Gardner emigrated to Western Australia with his family in 1909, whe ...

changed the name to ''Muiria hassellii'', but the name '' Muiria'' was already used for a plant in the family

Aizoaceae The Aizoaceae, or fig-marigold family, is a large family of dicotyledonous flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is d ...

. In 1943 Gardner changed the name to ''Muiriantha hassellii'' in the

Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia. The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the '' Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...

. 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 ...

''(hassellii)'' was named in honour of

Albert Hassell Albert Young Hassell (15 November 184120 September 1918) was a prominent Australian pastoralist and politician. Born in Albany, on 15 November 1841, Albert was the second son of pastoralist John Hassell who had pioneered the area around Ken ...

who collected the plant from the west end of the

Stirling Range The Stirling Range or Koikyennuruff is a range of mountains and hills in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, south-east of Perth. It is over wide from west to east, stretching from the highway between Mount Barker and Cranb ...

Distribution and habitat

This species has a restricted distribution found only in the south-west of Western Australia at Mount Manypeaks and the Stirling Range on heath in peaty sand, rocky clay on hillsides.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q536343, from2=Q15393315 hassellii Monotypic Rutaceae genera Zanthoxyloideae genera Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1943 Taxa named by Charles Gardner Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller