''Verticordia monadelpha'' is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the myrtle

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

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 ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. It is a much-branched shrub with pink to magenta flowers in spring and early summer. It is commonly known as pink Morrison, woolly featherflower, pink woolly featherflower, white woolly featherflower or pink cauliflower.

Description

''Verticordia monadelpha'' is a dense, rounded shrub which varies in height between with many branches on a single main stem. The leaves are thin, long, come to a point, and are sharply triangular and ridged in outline. The floral leaves are similar to those found on the stem. Pink to reddish-purple flowers are displayed during a period from October to January. The flowers are crowded and erect, in a

corymb Corymb is a botanical term for an inflorescence with the flowers growing in such a fashion that the outermost are borne on longer pedicels than the inner, bringing all flowers up to a common level. A corymb has a flattish top with a superficial re ...

ose arrangement and cover the rounded shrub in blooms. Long

cilia The cilium, plural cilia (), is a membrane-bound organelle found on most types of eukaryotic cell, and certain microorganisms known as ciliates. Cilia are absent in bacteria and archaea. The cilium has the shape of a slender threadlike projecti ...

form a fringe on each flower, giving the plant a woolly appearance.

Taxonomy and naming

''Verticordia monadelpha'' was first formally described in 1847 Nicolai Turczaninow from a specimen collected by James Drummond, sometime in the 1840s. 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 ...

(''monadelpha'') is derived from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

words ''monos'' meaning "one" and ''adelphos'' meaning "brother", referring to the

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s being united. Alex George nominated ''V. monadelpha'' the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of ''Verticordia'' sect. ''Intricata''. In his 1991 revision of the genus ''

Verticordia :For the clam genus, see ''Verticordia'' (bivalve). ''Verticordia'' is a genus of more than 100 species of plants commonly known as featherflowers, in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. They range in form from very small shrubs such as '' V. vertico ...

'', George named two varieties of this species, ''Verticordia monadelpha'' var. ''monadelpha'' and ''Verticordia monadelpha'' var. ''callitricha''. The variety ''monadelpha'' is based on the original description of ''V. monadelpha'' by Turczaninow. ''Verticordia callitricha'' was first formally described in 1857 by

Carl Meissner Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...

from a specimen collected by Drummond in 1850 or 1851. George reduced this species to a variety of ''V. monadelpha'' as ''Verticordia monadelpha'' var. ''callitricha''. This variety is usually high and wide and usually smaller than the type variety but sometimes grows to a height of .

Distribution and habitat

Variety ''monadelpha'' grows in deep sand, gravelly sand, and lateritic soils and often occurs with other verticordias in heath and shrubland in areas northeast of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. This variety has a wider distribution than var. ''callitricha'' and is found in the

Avon Wheatbelt The Avon Wheatbelt is a bioregion in Western Australia. It has an area of . It is considered part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion. Geography The Avon Wheatbelt bioregion is mostly a gently undulating landscape with low reli ...

and

Geraldton Sandplains Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

biogeographic regions. Variety ''callitricha'' grows in deep sand or gravelly sand 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 ...

in heathlands and open shrubland, often in association with '' Actinstrobus arenarius'' and ''

Banksia sceptrum ''Banksia sceptrum'', commonly known as the sceptre banksia, is a plant that grows in Western Australia near the central west coast from Geraldton north through Kalbarri to Hamelin Pool. It extends inland almost to Mullewa. First collected an ...

''. It is restricted to an area north of

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

and south of the Emu Proof Fence, in the

Kalbarri National Park Kalbarri National Park is located north of Perth, in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The major geographical features of the park include the Murchison River gorge which runs for nearly on the lower reaches of the Murchison River. Sp ...

and south-east toward Morawa.

Conservation

''Verticordia monadelpha'' populations were once threatened by

overexploitation Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...

for cut flowers, but are now protected by state's general prohibition of wildflower picking. The commonly occurring variety is vulnerable to changes in land use and altered fire regimes. Variety ''callitricha'', although less common is preserved in a National Park. Both varieties are classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia

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

Both varieties of ''V. monadelpha'' have been grown successfully in both Western Australia and the eastern states. Variety ''callitricha'' is more desirable because of its mounds of bright, unusual colour but needs to be grown in positions of low humidity.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7922909 monadelpha Rosids of Western Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1847 Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow