''Rhadinothamnus euphemiae'', is a slender, small, upright shrub with needle-shaped branchlets thickly covered with silvery scales and tubular greenish-purple tubular flowers throughout the year. It 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 coast of Western Australia.

Description

''Rhadinothamnus euphemiae'' is a small, slender, upright shrub to high with needle-shaped branchlets densely covered in silvery scales. The leaves are mostly dense on short lateral branches, narrowly triangular tapering to a slender petiole, long, with two spreading lobes, leathery, smooth, occasionally rough or sparsely covered in scales on the upper surface, underneath densely covered in short matted star-shaped hairs. The single flowers are borne on short branchlets long with 2-4 linear shaped bracts at the base of the flower. The calyx has silvery scales, hemispherical, about long, the triangular lobes long. The floral tube has narrow oblong to elliptic petals about long, inside surface of the petal is purplish and hairless, exterior greenish with scale-like hairs. The stamens are smooth and more or less equal to the length of the petals. The fruit is a narrow capsule about long and rounded. Flowering occurs sporadically throughout the year.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1863 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

who gave it the name ''Nematolepis euphemiae'' and published the description in '' Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae''. In 1971

Paul G. Wilson Paul Graham Wilson (born 1928) is an Australian botanist. He has been a most prolific contributor to the journal ''Nuytsia (journal), Nuytsia'', contributing to the first issue in 1970 and to the 12th volume in 1998, which was dedicated to him f ...

changed the name to ''Rhadinothamnus euphemiae'' and the name change was published 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 ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

''Rhadinothamnus euphemiae'' grows usually in sandy, rocky hillsides and outcrops from the Eyre Range east to Mount Ragged on the south coast of Western Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15394920 Zanthoxyloideae Flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller