''Verticordia pennigera'', commonly known as native tea, 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 usually a small erect or

prostrate Prostrate may refer to:- *Prostration, a position of submission in religion etc. *Prone position, a face-down orientation of the body *Prostrate shrub A prostrate shrub is a woody plant, most of the branches of which lie upon or just above the ...

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

with small leaves and lightly-scented spikes of pale pink to magenta-coloured flowers in spring.

Description

''Verticordia pennigera'' is a shrub, often with a spreading habit, which grows to high and wide and which has several main stems with many short, leafy side-branches. The leaves are linear to oblong, long and have a covering of fine hairs. The flowers are lightly scented and arranged in spike-like groups, each flower on a 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 top-shaped, long, glabrous, slightly warty and has two small 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 pale pink to magenta-coloured, long, with 5 or 6 hairy lobes and two small ear-like appendages 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 similar in colour to the sepals, long and erect with short, coarse teeth along their top edge. The style is long and hairy near the tip. Flowering time is from September to December.

Taxonomy and naming

''Verticordia pennigera'' was first formally described in 1837 by

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804, Bratislava (Pozsony) – 28 March 1849, Vienna) was an Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Bio ...

from a specimen collected near the Swan River by

Charles von Hügel Charles von Hügel (born Carl Alexander Anselm Baron von Hügel; 25 April 1795 – 2 June 1870), sometimes spelt in English Huegel, was an Austrian nobleman, army officer, diplomat, botanist, and explorer, now primarily remembered for his tra ...

. The description was published in '' Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel''. In his review of the genus ''Verticordia'' in 1991,

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 ...

selected a lectotype from the collections of James Drummond. 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 ...

(''pennigera'') is derived from a Latin word meaning "feather-bearer". George placed this species in subgenus ''Eperephes'', section ''Verticordella'' along with '' V. halophila'', '' 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''.

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia usually grows in soils that are sandy or clay types and which are frequently gravelly or granitic. It occurs in a broad area from Kalbarri National Park to the Bremer River area in the Avon Wheatbelt, Carnarvon, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and

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 ...

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 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 e ...

Use in horticulture

There is a wide variety of forms of native tea in cultivation, from open shrubs with rigid stems to prostrate, bushy forms. There is also some variation in the size and colour of the flowers. Propagation is usually from cuttings. Some forms adapt well to winter rainfall areas but all do best when grown in a sunny position in well-drained soil.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7922913 pennigera Endemic flora of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1837 Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher