''Patersonia inaequalis'', commonly known as unequal bract patersonia, is a species of plant in the iris family

Iridaceae Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide (Christenhusz & Byng 2016). It include ...

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 a restricted part of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

with linear, often twisted leaves and white

tepal A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...

Description

''Patersonia inaequalis'' is a tufted herb that with erect stems up to long. The leaves are linear, often twisted, long, wide, the leaf bases surrounding the stem. The flowering scape is long with the two sheaths enclosing the flowers of different lengths. The outer tepals are white, long and wide, and the

hypanthium 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 ...

tube is long and

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 ...

. Flowering mainly occurs from August to October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Patersonia inaequalis'' was first described in 1873 by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

'', from specimens collected by

George Maxwell George Maxwell (1804–1880) was a professional collector of plants and insects in Southwest Australia. The botanical specimens he obtained were used to make formal descriptions of the region's plant species. Biography He was born in England in 18 ...

Stokes Inlet Stokes Inlet is an inlet in the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia. The inlet is situated west of Esperance in Stokes National Park and is set is a large river valley with permanent deep water and high dunes located on either si ...

. 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 ...

(''inaequalis'') means "unequal", referring to the bracts.

Distribution and habitat

Unequal bract patersonia grows in heath and scrub on the coast of southern Western Australia between Stokes Inlet and Mondrain Island in the

Recherche Archipelago The Archipelago of the Recherche, known locally as the Bay of Isles, is a group of 105 islands, and over 1200 "obstacles to shipping", off the south coast of Western Australia. The islands stretch from east to west and to off-shore encomp ...

Conservation status

''Patersonia inaequalis'' is classified as " Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15579859 inaequalis Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1873 Taxa named by George Bentham