Asterolasia drummondii
Asterolasia drummondii, commonly known as Gairdner Range starbush, is a species of small shrub that is endemic to a restricted area of the southwest of Western Australia. It has egg-shaped leaves and white flowers arranged in umbels of five to ten flowers with rust-coloured, star-shaped hairs on the back of the petals.
Description
Asterolasia drummondii is woody perennial shrub that typically grows to a height of. The leaves are leathery, egg-shaped, long and glabrous. The flowers are arranged in umbels of five to ten, mainly on the ends of branchlets, each flower on a pedicel long and covered with rust-coloured, star-shaped hairs. The petals are white, broadly elliptical, about long, with rust-coloured, star-shaped hairs on the back, and there are ten stamens.Taxonomy
The species was first formally described in 1855 by William Henry Harvey after an unpublished description by James Drummond. It was given the name Urocarpus phebalioides and the description was published in Hooker's Journal of Botany and Kew Garden Miscellany from specimens collected on the east side of Mount Lesueur.In 1987, Paul Wilson transferred the species to the genus Asterolasia, but as there was already a species named Asterolasia phebalioides, Wilson changed the name to Asterolasia drummondii, publishing the change in the journal Nuytsia.