''Petrophile semifurcata'' 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 to an area near the west coast of Western Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with sharply-pointed, needle-shaped, sometimes lobed leaves and oval heads of silky-hairy, whitish, lemon-yellow or cream-coloured flowers.

Description

''Petrophile semifurcata'' is an erect, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of and has softly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are glabrous, needle-shaped, sharply-pointed, long, sometimes with two or three lobes, the lobes sometimes divided again near the tip. The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets in oval heads long on a

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

long, with deciduous

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 at the base. The flowers are about long, whitish, lemon-yellow or cream-coloured and silky-hairy. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

, fused with others in an oval head long on a peduncle long.

Taxonomy

''Petrophile semifurcata'' was first formally described in 1870 by George Bentham in '' Flora Australiensis'' from an unpublished description by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 ...

of material collected by Augustus Frederick Oldfield near the Murchison River. 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 ...

(''semifurcata'') means "half-forked", referring to the sometime simple, sometimes forked leaves.

Distribution and habitat

This petrophile grows in heath on sandy-gravelly soils, sometimes with '' Banksia'' species and is found mainly between Geraldton and Kalbarri in the Avon Wheatbelt, Carnarvon, Geraldton Sandplains and Yalgoo

biogeographic regions A biogeographic realm or ecozone is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. De ...

in the west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Petrophile semifurcata'' 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrophile semifurcata semifurcata Eudicots of Western Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1870 Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Taxa named by George Bentham