''Prostanthera tysoniana'' 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 Western Australia. It is a small, intricately-branched shrub with broadly elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs and white or cream-coloured flowers with purple streaks.

Description

''Prostanthera tysoniana'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has intricately-branched stems that are square in cross-section. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, broadly elliptic to more or less round, long and wide. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a woolly

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 with

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 ...

about long at the base of 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. The sepals are about long with two lobes, about long and wide. The petals are white or cream-colured with purple streaks, long forming a tube about long with two lips, the lower with three lobes about long and wide, the upper about long and wide with two lobes. Flowering occurs in September.

Taxonomy

This mintbush was first formally described in 1997 by John Carrick who gave it the name ''Eichlerago tysoniana'' 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 by Isaac Tyson near the Murchison River in 1898. In 1992,

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 ...

changed the name to ''Prostanthera tysoniana'' in the journal '' Telopea''.

Distribution and habitat

''Prostanthera tysoniana'' is a rare species, only known from the Byro-Mount Narryer area in the Murchison

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 tysoniana'' is classified as " Priority Three" 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 it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15355512 tysoniana Flora of Western Australia Lamiales of Australia Plants described in 1977