''Calothamnus brevifolius'' is a 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 of Western Australia. It is a small, highly branched shrub with almost cylindrical, pointed leaves and red flowers in summer. In 2014

Craven Craven may refer to: * Craven in the Domesday Book, an area of Yorkshire, England, larger area than the district ** Craven District, a local government district of North Yorkshire formed in 1974 Places * Craven, New South Wales, Australia, see ...

, Edwards and Cowley proposed that the species be renamed ''Melaleuca hawkeswoodii''.

Description

''Calothamnus brevifolius'' is a small, spreading, densely branched, glabrous shrub growing to a height of about with thick bark on the older stems. Its leaves are mostly crowded on the younger branches, long, wide, linear, almost circular in cross section and tapering to a sharp but not prickly point. The flowers are dark pink and arranged in short dense clusters of 1 to 5 around the stem, usually on the younger branches. The petals are papery and long. 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 are arranged in claw-like bundles with 15 to 20 stamens per bundle. Flowering occurs in January and February and is followed by fruits which are woody, roughly cylindrical capsules, wide.

Taxonomy and naming

''Calothamnus brevifolius'' was first formally described in 1984 by Trevor Hawkeswood from a specimen found on a roadside east of Piawaning. 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 ...

(''brevifolius'') is said to be derived from the Latin ''brevi'' meaning "short" and ''folius'' meaning "leaved", and refers to the characteristically short leaves of this species. In classical Latin the proper word for "short" is ''brevis'' (masculine and feminine) or ''breve'' (neuter).Lewis, C.T. & Short, C. (1879). ''A Latin dictionary founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary.'' Oxford: Clarendon Press. ''Folius'' is not attested as a single word in classical Latin, and can only be found as part of a compound in classical and botanical Latin.Stearn, W.T. (1983). ''Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary.'' (3rd edition). Newton Abbot London: David Charles.

Distribution and habitat

''Calothamnus brevifolius'' is only known from the Piawaning, Cunderdin, Corrigin and Marchagee districts in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Mallee biogeographic regions. It usually grows in sand or

loam Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

y soil in association with ''

Xylomelum angustifolium ''Xylomelum angustifolium'', the sandplain woody pear, is a tree species in the family Proteaceae, endemic to Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the la ...

'', '' Banksia prionotes'', ''

Melaleuca acuminata ''Melaleuca acuminata'', commonly known as mallee honeymyrtle is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is native to Australia and widespread in temperate areas of the continent. It is an erect shrub to about usually found in mallee woodla ...

'' or '' Thryptomene prolifera''.

Conservation

''Calothamnus brevifolius'' is listed as "Priority 4" by the Western Australian government Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is rare or near threatened.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15396941, from2=Q42693881 brevifolius Myrtales of Australia Plants described in 1984 Endemic flora of Western Australia