''Prostanthera carrickiana'', commonly known as Carrick's 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 a restricted area in the south-west of

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 shrub with hairy branchlets, elliptical leaves pinkish-red flowers.

Description

''Prostanthera carrickiana'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has cylindrical, densely hairy branchlets. The leaves are elliptical,

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

, long, wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged singly in two to six 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 green, long and form a tube long with two lobes about long and wide. The petals are pinkish-red, long and form a tube long. The lower lip has three lobes, the centre lobe broadly egg-shaped and concave, long and wide and the side lobes long and wide. The upper lip has two egg-shaped lobes long and wide. Flowering occurs from April to May.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera carrickiana'' was first formally described in 1987 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. H ...

in the journal '' Muelleria'' from specimens collected in the Clyde Hill Nature Reserve. 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 ...

honours the botanist John Carrick.

Distribution and habitat

Carrick's mintbush grows in mallee with a low shrubby understorey but is only known from the Clyde Hill Nature Reserve in the Mallee

biogeographic region An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Conservation status

''Prostanthera carrickiana'' is classified as " Priority Four" 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 is rare or near threatened.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15355342 carrickiana Flora of Western Australia Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Barry John Conn Plants described in 1987