''Pityrodia scabra'' is a species of flowering plant 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 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 inland

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 a sticky shrub with linear leaves arranged in

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral d ...

, and groups of about 7 to 9 white flowers.

Description

''Pityrodia scabra'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of about , its foliage covered with sticky, branched, golden hairs. The leaves are arranged in whorls of 3, linear long, wide and

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

. The edges of the leaves are rolled under and more or less scalloped, the upper surface becoming rough with age. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils in groups of about 7 to 9, with linear

bracteoles 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 ...

long at the base. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are joined at the base to form a tube long, with 5 lobes long. The five petals are white, long and joined to form a tube with two "lips", the upper lip with two lobes and the lower lip with three, the middle lobe larger than the others. The four stamens extend slightly beyond the end of the petal tube. Flowering occurs in October and November and is followed by oval, softly-hairy fruit long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Pityrodia scabra'' was first formally described in 1967 by Alex George from a specimen collected near Cowcowing, and the description was published in the ''

Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia The Royal Society of Western Australia (RSWA) promotes science in Western Australia. The RSWA was founded in 1914. It publishes the ''Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia'', and has awarded the Medal of the Royal Society of Western ...

''. 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 ...

(''scabra'') means "

scabrous This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

" or "rough", referring to the surface of the leaves. In 2012,

Kelly Anne Shepherd Kelly Anne Shepherd (born 1970) is an Australian botanist, who has published some 91 names. Career Shepherd earned a B.Sc. (Hon) in 1992 with a thesis entitled "Faecal Analysis of Mammalian Herbivores in the Perup Forest, Western Australia." ...

described two subspecies of ''P. scabra'' in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as bio ...

'', and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Pityrodia scabra'' subsp. ''dendrotricha'' K.A.Sheph. * ''Pityrodia scabra'' A.S.George subsp. ''scabra''

Distribution

This pityrodia occurs in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

, Coolgardie and Mallee bioregions of inland Western Australia.

Conservation

''Pityrodia scabra'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15350561 scabra Plants described in 1967 Flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Alex George