''Prostanthera prostantheroides'' is a 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 is endemic to Western Australia. It is a shrub with heart-shaped to round leaves and usually white flowers with purple spots inside the petal tube.

Description

''Prostanthera prostantheroides'' is a small shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has stems that become spiny with age. The leaves are heart-shaped to round, long and about wide on a very short petiole. The flowers are arranged at the ends of the branches on

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to the inflorescence. Such inflorescences are described as ''pedicellate''. Description Pedicel refers to a structure connecting a single flower to its inflorescence. In the absenc ...

long with bracteoles long at the base but that fall off as the flower develops. The sepals form a tube long with two lobes, the upper lobe about wide and the lower lobe about wide. The petals are long, white with purple, mauve to violet or red spots inside, and form a tube about long. The lower middle lobe is about wide and the side lobes are about long and wide, the upper lobes long and wide. Flowering occurs in August, September or October.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1876 by

Ferdinand von Mueller Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (german: Müller; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Vict ...

who gave it the name ''Wrixonia prostantheroides'' in his book '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae'', based on plant material collected from the vicinity of Mount Churchman by Jess Young. In 2012, Trevor Wilson,

Murray Henwood Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

and

Barry Conn Barry John Conn (Barry Conn, born 1948), is an Australian botanist. He was awarded a Ph.D. from Adelaide University in 1982 for work on ''Prostanthera''. Career Conn's first appointment as a botanist was with the Lae Herbarium in 1974. He ...

changed the name to ''Prostanthera prostantheroides'' in the journal '' Telopea''.

Distribution

''Prostanthera prostantheroides'' occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Murchison and Yalgoo

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 ...

of Western Australia.

Conservation status

This mintbush 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 ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q51050278 prostantheroides Flora of Western Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller Plants described in 1876