''Patersonia pygmaea'' is a species of plant in the iris family Iridaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tufted,

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

-forming perennial

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 sword-shaped leaves and bluish-violet to purple tepals.

Description

''Patersonia pygmaea'' is a tufted perennial herb that forms a rhizome and has woody stems long. The leaves are glabrous, sword-shaped, long and wide. The flowering scape is long and glabrous and dark brown. The outer tepals are bluish-violet to purple, broadly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide, the hypanthium tube long and glabrous. Flowering occurs from September to October and the fruit is an oval capsule long, containing brown seeds.

Taxonomy and naming

''Patersonia pygmaea'' was first described in 1840 by

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

in ''

A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony", also known by its standard botanical abbreviation ''Sketch Veg. Swan R.'', is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony. Nearly 300 new species were published in it, ...

''. 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 ...

(''pygmaea'') means "dwarf".

Distribution and habitat

This patersonia grows in forest and heathland from the Darling Range to 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 ...

and Albany.

Conservation status

''Patersonia pygmaea'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15578783 pygmaea Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1840 Taxa named by John Lindley