''Verticordia mitodes'' 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
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 ...
of
Western Australia. It is a shrub with a single, highly-branched main stem, small leaves and small spikes of magenta-coloured flowers in late spring.
Description
''Verticordia mitodes'' is a shrub with a single main stem with many side branches, which grows to a height of and wide. Its leaves are broadly elliptic to egg-shaped, long, wide and are covered with short hairs.
The flowers are sweetly scented and are arranged 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 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. The
sepals are long, pale pink to magenta-coloured and have between 5 and 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, long and have a fringe a further long. The
style is long, curved and has a tuft of hairs near the tip. Flowering time is from late October to December.
Taxonomy and naming
''Verticordia mitodes'' 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
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 ...
(''mitodes'') is an
Ancient Greek word meaning "thread-like"
referring to the fringe on the petals.
George placed this species in subgenus
''Eperephes'', section
''Verticordella'' along with ''
V. pennigera'', ''
V. halophila'', ''
V. bifimbriata'', ''
V. lindleyi'', ''
V. blepharophylla'', ''
V. drummondii'', ''
V. wonganensis'',''
V. paludosa'', ''
V. luteola'', ''
V. attenuata'', ''
V. tumida'', ''
V. carinata'', ''
V. centipeda'', ''
V. auriculata'', ''
V. pholidophylla'', ''
V. spicata'' and ''
V. hughanii''.
Distribution and habitat
This verticordia grows in sandy soil, sometimes with gravel and loam, in heath and shrubland, often with other species of verticordia. It occurs between
Mukinbudin,
Bungalbin,
Narembeen and
Marvel Loch, Western Australia
Marvel Loch is a small townsite of fewer than 100 people, east of Perth, Western Australia. It is located south west of Southern Cross, along the Perth to Kalgoorlie Great Eastern Highway. The town is located in the Shire of Yilgarn.
Gold w ...
in the
Avon Wheatbelt and
Coolgardie 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
''Verticordia mitodes'' is classified as "
Priority Three"
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 it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.
Use in horticulture
In cultivation, ''V. mitodes'' is slow growing, producing a small bushy plant which flowers from November to March. Propagation from seed has proven easier than from
cuttings and established plants are frost and drought tolerant.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15389253
mitodes
Rosids of Western Australia
Eudicots of Western Australia
Plants described in 1991