''Philotheca nutans'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, densely-branched shrub with club-shaped to cylindrical, glandular-warty leaves and pendent, pale yellow to pale red flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Description

''Philotheca nutans'' is a densely-branched shrub that grows to a height of with glandular-warty branchlets. The leaves are cylindrical to club-shaped, about long and glandular-warty on the lower surface. The flowers are pendent and borne singly in leaf axils, each flower on a thin

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about long. There are five broadly egg-shaped sepals about long and five broadly egg-shaped, pale yellow to pale red

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s . The ten

stamen 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 filame ...

s are densely woolly-hairy. Flowering occurs from July to September.

Taxonomy and naming

This philotheca was first formally described in 1970 by Paul Wilson who gave it the name ''Eriostemon nutans'' and published the description in the journal '' Nuytsia'' from specimens collected by Charles Gardner in 1953. In 1998, Wilson changed the name to ''Philotheca nutans'' in the same journal.

Distribution and habitat

''Philotheca nutans'' grows in woodland near the Wubin- Paynes Find road in the south-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Philotheca nutans'' is classified as " Priority One" 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 ...

, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18081955 nutans Flora of Western Australia Sapindales of Australia Plants described in 1970 Taxa named by Paul Graham Wilson