Eremophila ferricola
| Eremophila ferricola | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Genus: | Eremophila |
| Species: | E. ferricola
|
| Binomial name | |
| Eremophila ferricola | |
Eremophila ferricola is a flowering plant in the figwort family, Scrophulariaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with lance-shaped leaves and yellowish brown to greenish yellow flowers covered with fine hairs. The species is only known from a single location, growing on a banded ironstone hill.
Description
[edit]Eremophila ferricola is an erect shrub growing to 1–3 m (3–10 ft) high and 1–2 m (3–7 ft) wide with warty, glabrous branches. The leaves are arranged alternately, green, lance-shaped, 25–90 mm (1–4 in) long, 6–30 mm (0.2–1 in) wide with a prominent mid-vein. The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils on a glabrous stalk 10–25 mm (0.4–1 in) long. There are five overlapping, lance-shaped sepals 7–17 mm (0.3–0.7 in) long and 4–12 mm (0.2–0.5 in) wide. The sepals are bright green to greenish-brown and glabrous apart from matted hairs on their tips. The petals are yellowish brown to greenish yellow, 20–30 mm (0.8–1 in) long and joined at their lower end to form a tube which is covered inside and out with short, soft hairs. The four stamens extend beyond the end of the petal tube. Flowering time is mainly from July to September.[2][3]
Taxonomy and naming
[edit]Eremophila ferricola was first formally described by Bevan Buirchell and Andrew Brown in 2016 and the description was published in Nuytsia.[4] The specific epithet (ferricola) is derived from the Latin word ferrum meaning "iron"[5]: 443 and the Latin suffix -cola meaning "dweller" or "inhabitant"[5]: 217 referring to the habitat of this species.[2]
Distribution and habitat
[edit]This eremophila is only known from a single population near Mullewa in the Yalgoo biogeographic region growing in ironstone soils near the top of a banded ironstone hill in dense shrubland.[2][3][6]
Conservation status
[edit]Eremophila ferricola has been classified as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife,[6] meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ "Eremophila ferricola". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- ^ a b c Buirchell, Bevan; Brown, Andrew P. (2016). "New species of Eremophila (Scrophulariaceae): thirteen geographically restricted species from Western Australia". Nuytsia. 27: 262–264.
- ^ a b Brown, Andrew; Buirchell, Bevan (2011). A field guide to the eremophilas of Western Australia (1st ed.). Hamilton Hill, W.A.: Simon Nevill Publications. p. 318. ISBN 9780980348156.
- ^ "Eremophila ferricola". APNI. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
- ^ a b Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
- ^ a b "Eremophila ferricola". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 14 April 2017.