''Verticordia vicinella'' 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 narrow leaves and groups of small, scented, pink or pale yellow flowers, growing near Esperance and in the

Cape Arid National Park Cape Arid National Park is a List of national parks of Australia, national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance, Western Australia, Esperance and lies on the shore of the South coast of W ...

Description

''Verticordia vicinella'' is a shrub with a single main branch and which usually grows to a height of and up to wide. The leaves are linear in shape, long with a rounded end. The flowers are scented and arranged in rounded groups on the ends of the branches, each flower on a spreading stalk less than 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, smooth and hairy. The sepals are about long, erect, pink, cream or pale yellow with 3 or 4 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 sepals, about long, egg-shaped and hairy on the outside with a slightly ragged tip. The style is long, straight and hairy near the tip. Flowering time is usually from January to May, but has been recorded in most months. This species is similar to '' Verticordia minutiflora'' but the flowers are usually pink, where those of ''V.minutiflora'' are mostly grey to mauve. ''Verticordia vicinella'' also has

staminode In botany, a staminode is an often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which means that it does not produce pollen.Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; ''A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent''; Published by Gerald Duckworth & Co. ...

s between its stamens.

Taxonomy and naming

''Verticordia vicinella'' 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 Esperance 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 ...

(''vicinella'') is derived from the Latin word ''vicinus'' meaning "near" with the diminutive suffix ''-ella'' referring to the small flowers and similarity to ''V. minutiflora''. George placed this species in subgenus ''Verticordia'', section ''Micrantha'' along with '' V. minutiflora'' and '' V. fastigiata''.

Distribution and habitat

This verticordia grows in sand, sometimes in areas that are wet in winter. It occurs in the south of Western Australia between Esperance and Mount Ragged in the Cape Arid National Park in the Esperance Plains 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

''Verticordia vicinella'' 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

''Verticordia vicinella'' is readily propagated from cuttings, easy to establish in gardens and is hardy in well-drained soil.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15392451 vicinella Endemic flora of Western Australia Myrtales of Australia Rosids of Western Australia Plants described in 1991