''Prostanthera behriana'', commonly known as tall mintbush, 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 the south-east of South Australia. It is an erect to straggling shrub with egg-shaped leaves and white, pale blue, pale violet or purplish white flowers with red-brown spots or purple streaks inside.

Description

''Prostanthera behriana'' is an erect or straggling shrub that typically grows to a height of with flattened, hairy stems. The leaves are egg-shaped, or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, light to mid-green, 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 flowers are arranged singly in leaf two to fourteen leaf axils near the ends of branchlets, each flower on a

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 are light green and form a tube long with two lobes, the lower lobe long and about wide, the upper lobe long and wide. The petals are , white, pale blue, pale violet or purplish white with red-brown spots or purple streaks inside, and fused to form a tube long. 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 broadly egg-shaped lobes long and about wide.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera behriana'' was first formally described in 1847 by

Schlechtendal Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal (27 November 1794, Xanten – 12 October 1866, Halle) was a German botanist. He studied in Berlin, in 1819 becoming curator of the Royal Herbarium. He was a professor of botany and director of the Bo ...

in the journal ''

Linnaea ''Linnaea'' is a plant genus in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae. Until 2013, the genus included a single species, ''Linnaea borealis''. In 2013, on the basis of molecular phylogenetic evidence, the genus was expanded to include species f ...

'' from specimens collected by

Hans Hermann Behr Hans Hermann Behr (August 18, 1818, Köthen (Anhalt), Köthen – March 6, 1904, San Francisco) was a German Americans, German-American Physician, doctor, entomologist and botanist. At the time of his death, the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' r ...

Distribution and habitat

Tall mintbush grows in heath and woodland from the lower

Flinders Ranges The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna. The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...

, through the

Mount Lofty Ranges The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...

to south of

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15355144 behriana Flora of South Australia Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Diederich Franz Leonhard von Schlechtendal Plants described in 1847