''Verticordia halophila'', commonly known as salt-loving featherflower, or salt-loving verticordia, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family,

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae, the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All speci ...

and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with small, crowded, thick leaves and spikes of red and pink flowers in spring.

Description

''Verticordia halophila'' is a shrub which grows to high and wide and which has a few main stems with many short, leafy side-branches. The leaves on the side branches are crowded, oblong to egg-shaped, thick with a rounded end but with a short point and covered with soft hairs less than long. The leaves on the flowering stems are broadly egg-shaped to almost round. The flowers are scented and arranged in spike-like groups near the ends of the long flowering stems, each flower on a stalk, long. The floral cup is top-shaped, long, smooth and glabrous with 5 ribs and small bent green

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

s. The sepals are pink with a white fringe, long, with 5 or 6 hairy lobes and two ear-shaped, hairy

s on the sides. The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are mauve-pink, erect, , with short, coarse teeth along their top edge. The style is long, curved with short hairs near its purple tip. Flowering time is from September to December. It is distinguished from similar verticordias by its thick, crowded leaves, the serrations on the top edge of the petals, the purple-tipped style and by the saline environment in which it is found.

Taxonomy and naming

''Verticordia halophila'' was first formally described by

Alex George Alexander or Alex George may refer to: *Alex George (botanist) (born 1939), Australian botanist * Alexander L. George (1920–2006), American political scientist * Alexander George (philosopher), American philosopher *Alex George (motorcyclist), Sc ...

in 1991 and the description was published in '' Nuytsia''. 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 ...

collection was made by Alex and Elizabeth George south of Coorow in 1985. 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 ...

(''halophila'') is "named from the Greek ''hals'' (salt) and ''-philus'' (loving), in reference to the habitat which is unusual in the genus". When

reviewed the genus in 1991, he placed this species in subgenus ''Eperephes'', section ''Verticordella'' along with '' V. pennigera'', '' V. blepharophylla'', '' V. lindleyi'', '' V. carinata'', '' V. attenuata'', '' V. drummondii'', '' V. wonganensis'', '' V. paludosa'', '' V. luteola'', '' V. bifimbriata'', '' V. tumida'', '' V. mitodes'', '' V. centipeda'', '' V. auriculata'', '' V. pholidophylla'', '' V. spicata'' and '' V. hughanii''. An isolated population recognised as a variant of this species was redescribed as ''

Verticordia elizabethiae ''Verticordia elizabethiae'', named as Elizabeth's featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. An endemic species of Southwest Australia, it occurs near salt lakes as an erect bushy shrub. Taxonomy A species of ''Vertico ...

'' in 2020.

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia usually grows in sand and clay on flats that are slightly saline and on the edges of salt lakes in woodland and shrubland. It is found in and near areas around Coorow, Marchagee and Lake Seabrook in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains

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 ...

. The distribution range included the Coolgardie bioregion, a population around 200 km inland, until a 2020 revision recognised it as a separate species, ''Verticordia elizabethiae''.

Conservation

''Verticordia halophila'' is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government

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 en ...

Use in horticulture

Some forms of this species are being grown in cultivation and are performing well. Some are bushy shrubs which are producing honey-scented flowers from October to March, sometimes in other months.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7922904 halophila Halophytes Endemic flora of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1844