''Verticordia tumida'', commonly known as summer featherflower, 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 north-west of
Western Australia. It is an open shrub with very small leaves and clusters of deep pink flowers from late spring to early winter.
Description
''Verticordia tumida'' is an open shrub with many side-branches and which usually grows to a height of . The leaves are elliptic or egg-shaped, long and about wide.
The flowers are scented and arranged in short, spike-like groups near the ends of the branches, 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 top-shaped, about long and
glabrous with thick 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 long. The
sepals are long, spreading, deep pink with 5 or 10 feathery 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 petals, about long, with a fringe long. The style is about long, curved near the tip and hairy. Flowering time is from late October to April, sometimes later.
Taxonomy and naming
''Verticordia tumida'' 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 from a specimen collected near
Tammin by
Charles Gardner. 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 ...
(''tumida'') is a
Latin words meaning "swollen"
referring to the appendages on the hypanthium.
George placed this species in subgenus
''Eperephes'', section
''Verticordella'' along with ''
V. halophila'', ''
V. pennigera'', ''
V. blepharophylla'', ''
V. lindleyi'', ''
V. carinata'', ''
V. attenuata'', ''
V. drummondii'', ''
V. wonganensis'', ''
V. paludosa'', ''
V. luteola'', ''
V. bifimbriata'', ''
V. mitodes'', ''
V. centipeda'', ''
V. auriculata'', ''
V. pholidophylla'', ''
V. spicata'' and ''
V. hughanii''.
There are two subspecies:
*
''Verticordia tumida'' A.S.George subsp. ''tumida'' which has 9 or 10 lobes on each of the sepals and a constriction at the base of the floral cup;
*
''Verticordia tumida'' subsp. ''therogana'' A.S.George which 5 to 8 sepal lobes and no constriction of the floral cup.
Distribution and habitat
Subspecies ''tumida'' usually grows in sand, sometimes with loam and clay, in heath and shrubland and mainly occurs between
Dowerin,
Jitarning and
Koolyanobbing. Subspecies ''therogana'' grows in sand, often with loam in heath and shrubland between
Wickepin and the
Peak Charles and the
Fitzgerald River
The Fitzgerald River is a river in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.
Surveyor General John Septimus Roe named the river during expeditions in the area in 1848 after the governor of Western Australia of the day, Charles Fitzge ...
National Parks.
Conservation
Both subspecies of ''V. tumida'' are 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
Subspecies ''therogana'' has been propagated from
cuttings more easily than has subsp. ''tumida''. It is also easier to maintain in the garden but not to the degree that it is available in commercial horticulture.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15391575
tumida
Endemic flora of Western Australia
Myrtales of Australia
Rosids of Western Australia
Vulnerable flora of Australia
Plants described in 1991