''Prostanthera splendens'' 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 is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small, spreading shrub with small, densely glandular, egg-shaped leaves and mauve to light purple flowers, paler on the inside with mauve to reddish-brown dots.

Description

''Prostanthera splendens'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has cylindrical, hairless branches. The leaves are more or less glabrous, egg-shaped to elliptic, long, wide and sessile or on a petiole up to long. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a pedicel long, the sepals forming a tube long with two lobes, the upper lobe long and about wide. The petals are mauve to light purple but paler on the inside of the tube, with mauve to reddish-brown dots, long and form a tube long. The lower lip of the petal tube has three lobes, the centre lobe spatula-shaped to egg-shaped, long and the side lobes long. The upper lip is long with a central notch deep.

Taxonomy

''Prostanthera splendens'' was first formally described in 1988 by Barry Conn in the journal '' Nuytsia'' from specimens collected by Charles Gardner near Mount Barloweerie in 1931.

Distribution and habitat

This mintbush grows in pebbly soil on breakaways in the Coolgardie and Mallee

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

''Prostanthera splendens'' is classified as " Priority One" 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 en ...

, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15355232 splendens Flora of Western Australia Lamiales of Australia Taxa named by Barry John Conn Plants described in 1988