''Prostanthera incurvata'' 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 inland of Western Australia. It is a small, erect shrub with hairy branches, narrow oblong to narrow egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and pink to red, sometimes yellow flowers.

Description

''Prostanthera incurvata'' is an erect, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy branches. The leaves are usually clustered towards the ends of the branches and are narrow oblong to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 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 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 pink to red, sometimes yellow, long and form a tube about long. The lower lip of the petal tube has three lobes, the centre lobe broadly egg-shaped and concave, long and the side lobes long. The upper lip is about long with a central notch deep. Flowering occurs from in April or from August to October.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera incurvata'' 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. He ...

in the ''

Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens The Adelaide Botanic Garden is a public garden at the north-east corner of the Adelaide city centre, in the Adelaide Park Lands. It encompasses a fenced garden on North Terrace, Adelaide, North Terrace (between Lot Fourteen, the site of the old ...

'' from specimens collected near Lake Cowan.

Distribution and habitat

This mintbush sometimes grows in low woodland, and has been collected in the Avon Wheatbelt, 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 status

''Prostanthera incurvata'' is classified as "not threatened" 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15355134 incurvata Flora of Western Australia Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Barry John Conn Plants described in 1984