''Westringia amabilis'' is a species of flowering plant in the family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

and grows in New South Wales and Queensland. It is a small shrub with ovate-shaped leaves and light mauve to white flowers and brownish spots in the throat.

Description

''Westringia amabilis'' is a shrub high with an open habit. The leaves are arranged in

whorls A whorl ( or ) is an individual circle, oval, volution or equivalent in a whorled pattern, which consists of a spiral or multiple concentric objects (including circles, ovals and arcs). Whorls in nature File:Photograph and axial plane floral ...

of three, oval to narrowly oval shaped, long, wide, margins smooth and usually slightly curved under, upper and lower surface sparsely hairy on a petiole long. The

bracteoles In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or o ...

long, the calyx is green, lobes triangular shaped, tube long, wide and the outer surface has occasional hairs. The corolla long, and is light mauve to white with brownish spots in the throat. Flowering occurs throughout the year.

Taxonomy and naming

''Westringia amabilis'' was first formally described in 1949 by

Joseph Robert Bernard Boivin Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

and the description was published in ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland ''Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland'' is a multidisciplinary scientific journal published by The Royal Society of Queensland The Royal Society of Queensland was formed in Queensland, Australia in 1884 from the Queensland Philo ...

''. 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 ...

(''amabilis'') means "loveable".

Distribution and habitat

This westringia grows in rocky locations in forests and sometimes along roadsides north of the

Manning River Manning River (Birpai language, Biripi: ''Boolumbahtee''), an open and Breakwater (structure), trained mature wind wave, wave dominated estuary#Lagoon-type or bar-built, barrier estuary, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast ...

in New South Wales and Queensland.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15375495

amabilis Amabilis (derived from Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome ...

Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1949 Lamiales of Australia