''Spyridium microcephalum'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Rhamnaceae The Rhamnaceae are a large family of flowering plants, mostly trees, shrubs, and some vines, commonly called the buckthorn family. Rhamnaceae is included in the order Rosales. The family contains about 55 genera and 950 species. The Rhamnaceae h ...

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 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 a spreading or erect shrub with linear leaves and heads of woolly-hairy flowers.

Description

''Spyridium microcephalum'' is a low, spreading or slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of , its young branchlets covered with woolly, rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are linear, mostly long with the edges rolled under obscuring most of the lower surface. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous and the lower surface is woolly-hairy. The heads of flowers are about wide with 1 or 2 prominent, woolly-hairy floral leaves at the base. 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 less than long and glabrous.

Taxonomy

The species was first formally described in 1858 by Nikolai Turczaninow, who gave it the name ''Cryptandra microcephala'' in the ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou''. In 1863, George Bentham changed the name to ''Spyridium microcephalum'' in '' Flora Australiensis''. 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 ...

(''microcephalum'') means "small-headed".

Distribution

''Spyridium microcephalum'' occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt,

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 ...

, Hampton and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia. It is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241914 microcephalum Rosales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow Plants described in 1858