''Verticordia patens'' 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 linear, pointed leaves and faintly scented, pale yellow flowers in open heads on the ends of the branches. It is fairly common in a small area south of Badgingarra.

Description

''Verticordia patens'' is a slender, woody shrub which grows to a height of between and up to wide. The leaves are linear in shape, semi-circular in cross-section and long with a pointed end. The flowers are faintly scented and arranged in fairly open, corymb-like groups on the ends of the branches on erect stalks 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 about long, glabrous and slightly warty. The sepals are spreading, lemon-yellow, long, with between 5 and 7 feathery lobes and two hairy

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

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 erect, pale yellow, about long and egg.shaped with a toothed margin. The style is long, straight and glabrous. Flowering time is from September to November.

Taxonomy and naming

This species 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 1966 and the description was published in ''Western Australian Naturalist''. He collected the type specimen at Moore River. 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 ...

(''patens'') is a Latin word meaning "open" referring to the open branching habit of this species. When he reviewed the genus in 1991, George placed this species in subgenus ''Chrysoma'', section ''Chrysohoe'' along with '' V. nitens'' and '' V. nitens''.

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia occurs in a small area between Badgingarra, Coorow and Moore River. It usually grows in sand or gravelly soil, sometimes over

laterite Laterite is both a soil and a rock type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by ...

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

, in heath,

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

or low woodland.

Conservation

''Verticordia patens'' 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 e ...

. Although its range is limited, it is fairly common in that area, part of which includes a significant national park.

Use in horticulture

It possible to propagate ''V. patens'' from cuttings but the plant has proven difficult to maintain in the garden due to its susceptibility to fungal disease.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7922912

patens A paten or diskos is a small plate, used during the Mass. It is generally used during the liturgy itself, while the reserved sacrament are stored in the tabernacle in a ciborium. Western usage In many Western liturgical denominations, the p ...

Rosids of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1966