''Prostanthera althoferi'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

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 areas of Australia. It is an erect shrub with its stems and leaves densely covered with silvery, greyish-green hairs, and has narrow egg-shaped leaves and white to cream-coloured flowers with mauve or purple striations inside.

Description

''Prostanthera althoferi'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of with stems that are square in cross-section and densely covered with silvery, greyish-green hairs. The leaves are

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 ...

, linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, densely covered with silvery, greyish-green hairs, long and wide. The flowers are arranged singly in four to twenty leaf axils near the ends of branchlets, each flower on a densely hairy

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

long. 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 form a green to cream-coloured, hairy tube tinged with maroon and long with two lobes, the lower lobe broadly egg-shaped, long and wide, the upper lobe long and wide. The petals form a white to cream-coloured tube long with mauve to purple striations inside. The lower lip has three lobes, the centre lobe spatula-shaped, long and wide and the side lobes long and wide. The upper lip has two lobes long and about wide. Flowering occurs from March to October.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera althoferi'' was first formally described in 1988 by

Barry Conn Barry John Conn (Barry Conn, born 1948), is an Australian botanist. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Adelaide University in 1982 for work on ''Prostanthera''. Career Conn's first appointment as a botanist was with the Lae Herbarium in 1974. He ...

in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens collected near Leonora in 1975. 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 ...

(''althoferi'') honours

George Althofer George William Francis Althofer (1903–1993) was an Australian botanist, nurseryman, author and poet, with a special interest in the mint-bush genus ''Prostanthera'' as well as other Australian native plants, who founded the Burrendong Botanic ...

. In the same journal, Conn described two subspecies 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 ...

: * ''Prostanthera althoferi'' B.J.Conn subsp. ''althoferi'' has leaves long; * ''Prostanthera althoferi'' subsp. ''longifolia'' B.J.Conn has leaves long.

Distribution and habitat

This mintbush grows on sandplains, granite outcrops, low sandy rises and dunes. Subspecies ''althoferi'' is restricted to Western Australia where it is found 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,

Great Victoria Desert The Great Victoria Desert is a sparsely populated desert ecoregion and interim Australian bioregion in Western Australia and South Australia. History In 1875, British-born Australian explorer Ernest Giles became the first European to cross th ...

, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions. Subspecies ''longifolia'' occurs in the southern part of the Northern Territory and the northern arid and western pastoral regions and

Eyre Peninsula The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north. Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...

in South Australia.

Conservation status

''Prostanthera althoferi'' subsp. ''althoferi'' is classified as "not threatened" 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15354935, from2=Q51058701, from3=Q66104820 althoferi Flora of Western Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of the Northern Territory Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Barry John Conn Plants described in 1988