''Prostanthera verticillaris'' 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 of Western Australia. It is a spreading shrub with whorled, egg-shaped to elliptic leaves and white to purplish-blue flowers.

Description

''Prostanthera verticillaris'' is a spreading, openly-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of and has hairy branches. The leaves are arranged in whorls of three or four, more or less glabrous, egg-shaped to elliptic, 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 ...

or on a petiole up to long. The flowers are borne on groups of six to eight near the ends of branches, 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 ...

about 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 tube about long with two lobes, the lower lobe about long and the upper lobe long. The petals are white to purplish-blue, long and form a tube with two lips, the lower centre lobe spatula-shaped, long and the side lobes about long. The upper lip is egg-shaped, about long and wide with a central notch about deep. Flowering occurs from September to October.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera verticillaris'' 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 by

Kenneth Newbey Kenneth Raymond Newbey (11 June 1936 – 24 July 1988) was a plant ecologist, botanical collector and horticulturist. Born in Katanning, Western Australia, he collected over 12000 specimens from the Albany- Esperance, Wheatbelt, goldfields and Pi ...

north-east of Albany in 1967.

Distribution and habitat

This mintbush grows on granite outcrops and is only known from the

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

location in the

Esperance Plains Esperance Plains, also known as Eyre Botanical District, is a biogeographic region in southern Western Australia on the south coast between the Avon Wheatbelt and Hampton bioregions, and bordered to the north by the Mallee region. It is a pl ...

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 ...

of Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Prostanthera verticillaris'' is classified as " Priority One" 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 known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15355554 verticillaris Flora of Western Australia Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Barry John Conn Plants described in 1988