''Persoonia rufiflora'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genera with about 1,660 known species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae, they make up the order Pro ...

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-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, sometimes spreading shrub with hairy young branchlets, lance-shaped to linear leaves, and hairy, greenish yellow flowers arranged singly or in pairs.

Description

''Persoonia rufiflora'' is an erect, sometimes spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of with young branchlets that are covered with greyish to rust-coloured hair. The leaves are lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, to linear, long and wide with three ridges on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged singly or in pairs, with a scale leaf at the base. The

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 ...

s are greenish yellow, long, hairy on the outside, and the

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

are white. Flowering occurs from June to September and the fruit is a smooth, kidney-shaped to oval

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

about long and wide.

Taxonomy

''Persoonia rufiflora'' was first formally described in 1855 by

Carl Meissner Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...

in Hooker's '' Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany'' from specimens collected by James Drummond.

Distribution and habitat

This geebung grows in heath and mallee woodland between

Kalbarri National Park Kalbarri National Park is located north of Perth, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The major geographical features of the park include the Murchison River gorge which runs for nearly on the lower reaches of the Murchison River. Sp ...

and the Mogumber area in the south-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Persoonia rufiflora'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Parks and Wildlife The Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPaW) was the department of the Government of Western Australia responsible for managing lands described in the ''Conservation and Land Management Act 1984'' and implementing the state's conservation and e ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7170733 rufiflora Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1855 Taxa named by Carl Meissner