''Verticordia lindleyi'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 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 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 se ...

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 sometimes an openly branched shrub, other times more or less dense, with small leaves and spreading, spike-like groups of pink or purple flowers along the stems in summer, sometimes also in autumn.

Description

''Verticordia lindleyi'' is a shrub which grows to a height of usually with one main stem, either openly or densely branched. Its leaves are egg-shaped to elliptic, slightly dished, long and covered with short hairs. The flowers are lightly scented and are arranged along the stems in spike-like groups, each flower on a spreading stalk long. The

floral cup In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

is a top-shaped, about long, 5-ribbed and

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

with rounded 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 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 are pink or purple, occasionally white, long, with 5 to 7 hairy lobes. 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 a similar colour to the sepals, egg-shaped, long and sometimes have a few small teeth on the end. The

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

is long, S-shaped and hairy. Flowering time is from November to February, or sometimes as late as May.

Taxonomy and naming

''Verticordia lindleyi'' was first formally described by Johannes Schauer in 1841 from a specimen collected by James Drummond near the Swan River, and the description was published in ''Monographia Myrtacearum Xerocarpicarum''. 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 ...

(''lindleyi'') honours the botanist

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

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 ...

undertook a review of the genus ''Verticordia'' in 1991 and described two subspecies: * ''Verticordia lindleyi'' F.Muell. subsp. ''lindleyi'' which has petals which narrow towards their tip and lack teeth on their tip or have short teeth; * ''Verticordia lindleyi'' subsp ''purpurea'' A.S.George which has petals that are broad near their tip and have relatively large teeth; George placed this species in subgenus ''Integripetala'', section ''Verticordella'' along with '' V. pennigera'', '' V. halophila'', '' V. blepharophylla'', '' 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''.

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia grows in sandy soil, usually over clay or gravel in areas that are wet in winter, sometimes in open woodland or shrubland. It occurs from near Mogumber north of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, south and east to the

Stirling Range National Park Stirling Range National Park is a national park in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region of Western Australia, approximately south-east of Perth. Description It protects the Stirling Ranges, or Koikyennuruff, a range o ...

in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

Geraldton Sandplains Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

Swan Coastal Plain The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geol ...

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 ...

and Mallee

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 ...

Conservation

Subspecies ''lindleyi'' is classified as " Priority Four" 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 e ...

, meaning that is rare or near threatened, while subspecies ''purpurea'' is classified as "Not Threatened".

Use in horticulture

Both subspecies of ''Verticordia lindleyi'' are well established in gardens. When grown in well-drained soil in a sunny position, they have developed into shrubs which both drought and frost tolerant as well as resistant to fungal diseases. They have been grown from both cuttings and from seed. A project of the Western Australian

Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority The Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority is a Government of Western Australia, Western Australian Government authority charged with the administration of Kings Park, Western Australia, Kings Park and Bold Park (Western Australia), Bold Park. It wa ...

has successfully translocated clones of different specimens of ''V. lindleyi'' subsp. ''lindleyi'' in a reconstructed wetland at

Perth Airport Perth Airport is an international, domestic and general aviation airport serving Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is the fourth busiest airport in Australia measured by passenger movements and falls within the boundaries of ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15390321 lindleyi Endemic flora of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1841