''Pityrodia chrysocalyx'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the mint

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

and is endemic to the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is an erect, bushy shrub with small, glossy leaves, and flowers with white

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 and a golden-yellow

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

Description

''Pityrodia chrysocalyx'' is an erect, bushy, compact shrub which grows to a height of with its branches densely covered with reddish yellow, circular scales. Its leaves are glossy green, egg-shaped long, wide and usually scattered in groups of three along the stems. The flowers are arranged singly in upper leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s on a very short stalk. There is a leaf-like

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 ...

and minute bracteoles at the base of the flower. The five sepals are joined to form a golden-coloured, bell-shaped tube long, scaly on the outside but glabrous inside. The five petals are joined to form a white tube long with five lobes on the end. The tube is wider at the top end and the lower, middle lobe is broad elliptic to almost circular, broad and long while the other four lobes are slightly smaller and roughly similar in size and shape to each other. The petal tube has a few soft hairs on the outside but glabrous inside apart from a densely hairy ring above the ovary and a few hairs on the large petal lobe. Flowering occurs from July to October and is followed by a hairy, oval fruit long with the sepals attached.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1876 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 ...

who gave it the name ''Depremesnilia chrysocalyx'' and published the description in '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae''. In 1931, Charles Gardner changed the name to ''Pityrodia chrysocalyx''. 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 ...

(''chrysocalyx'') is derived from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words meaning "gold" and "cup", (to give "golden-cupped")Backer, C.A. (1936
''Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten'' (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).
(Explanatory dictionary of the scientific names of .. plants grown in the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies...) referring to the colour of the sepal tube.

Distribution and habitat

This pityrodia grows in sandy loam in open woodland mainly between Esperance,

Norseman The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the pre ...

, Lake Meads and Pyramid Lake in the Coolgardie and Mallee

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 ...

Conservation

''Pityrodia chrysocalyx'' is classified as " Priority Three" by the Western Australian Government

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 poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15352416 chrysocalyx Plants described in 1876 Flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller