''Calectasia pignattiana'', commonly known as the stilted tinsel lily or Pignatti's star of Bethlehem, is a plant in the family

Dasypogonaceae Dasypogonaceae is a family of flowering plants, one that has not been commonly recognized by taxonomists; the plants it contains were usually included in the family Xanthorrhoeaceae. If valid, Dasypogonaceae includes four genera with 16 species. ...

growing as a perennial herb 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 els ...

to the south–west of

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 ...

. It is only known from ten locations, four of which are on road verges. The species is classified as vulnerable.

Description

''Calectasia pignattiana'' is a prickly,

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow h ...

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

growing to a height of about 50 cm. Unlike some other members of the genus (such as '' C. grandiflora'') this species lacks a rhizome but has stilt roots 10–60 mm long. The stems are up to 60 cm long and slender, with many lateral branches, occasionally with adventitious stilt roots up to 150 mm long protruding from the upper branches. The leaves are 5.2–11.5 x 0.9–1.4 mm and

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part o ...

. The six petals are dark blue, gradually fading to white with age and the central anthers are yellow, turning orange-red with age. Flowers appear from June to September.

Taxonomy and naming

''Calectasia pignattiana'' is one of eleven species in the genus ''

Calectasia ''Calectasia'' is a genus of about fifteen species of flowering plants in the family Dasypogonaceae and is endemic to south-western Australia. Plants is this genus are small, erect shrubs with branched stems covered by leaf sheaths. The flowers ...

''. It was described as a new species in 2001 by R.L.Barrett & K.W.Dixon from a specimen collected near

Quairading Quairading is a Western Australian town located in the Wheatbelt region. It is the seat of government for the Shire of Quairading. History The town was named for Quairading Spring, derived from a local Aboriginal word recorded in 1872 by sur ...

. 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 ...

(''pignattiana'') "''honours Professors Erika and Alessandro Pignatti of Rome on the occasion of their seventieth birthdays. They have contributed greatly to our knowledge of south-west vegetation associations and have collected extensively, including many taxa new to science''".

Distribution and habitat

The stilted tinsel lily is considered vulnerable because four of the ten locations where it has been found are on road verges, one population is in danger from frequent fire events, another is thought to have been cleared, one site has only one plant, other two plants. It grows in yellow sand lenses, in

kwongan Kwongan is plant community found in south-western Western Australia. The name is a Bibbelmun (Noongar) Aboriginal term of wide geographical use defined by Beard (1976) as Kwongan has replaced other terms applied by European botanists such as ...

dominated by Proteaceae - a relatively restricted soil type.

Conservation status

''Calectasia pignattiana'' is classified as vulnerable by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources and the Department of the Environment, Canberra. It is vulnerable to, and threatened by the

European rabbit The European rabbit (''Oryctolagus cuniculus'') or coney is a species of rabbit native to the Iberian Peninsula (including Spain, Portugal, and southwestern France), western France, and the northern Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa. It h ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15588977 pignattiana Endemic flora of Western Australia Commelinids of Australia Plants described in 2001 Taxa named by Russell Lindsay Barrett