''Taxandria parviceps'', commonly known as tea tree, is a shrub species that grows on the south west coast 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 ...

. This plant was previously classified as ''

Agonis ''Agonis'' is a genus in the plant family Myrtaceae. All are endemic (ecology), endemic to Western Australia, growing near the coast in the Southwest Australia, south west. Description Only one, ''Agonis flexuosa'', grows to tree size; the o ...

parviceps'' but is now part of the '' Taxandria''

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Description

The shrub has an erect form and typically grows to a height of . It blooms between July and October producing white flowers. It can be grown as an ornamental shrub in the garden where it is hardy and has dense foliage. The small white flowers grow in masses and the foliage is aromatic. The shrub is

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

tolerant once established and will also tolerate light frosts.

Distribution

It is often found along the edges of seasonally-wet areas on sand dunes and flats. It has a range along coastal regions extending from the

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

region into the Great Southern region where it grows in loamy, sandy or clay soils over quartzite or

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

Classification

First formally described as ''

parviceps'' by the

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

Johannes Conrad Schauer in 1844 as part of

Johann Georg Christian Lehmann Johann Georg Christian Lehmann (25 February 1792 – 12 February 1860) was a German botanist. Born at Haselau, near Uetersen, Holstein, Lehmann studied medicine in Copenhagen and Göttingen, obtained a doctorate in medicine in 1813 and a doct ...

's work ''Plantae Preissianae'' The plant was subsequently reclassified to ''T. parviceps'' in a 2007 revision by Wheeler and

Marchant Marchant is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Adio Marchant (born 1987), English singer and songwriter known professionally as Bipolar Sunshine * Alison Marchant, Australian politician * Chesten Marchant (died 1676), last monogl ...

into the new genus ''Taxandria''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15388752 parviceps Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Trees of Australia Trees of Mediterranean climate Plants described in 1844