Brachyloma baxteri

Brachyloma baxteri is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect or diffuse shrub with linear leaves and red, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

Brachyloma baxteri is an erect or diffuse shrub that usually grows to a height of and has softly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are linear, up to long, with the edges curved downwards and a small hard point on the tip. The flowers are sessile with bracts up to long and bracteoles nearly long at the base. The petals are joined to form a red tube long with erect, glabrous, linear lobes about long. The fruit is a spherical drupe that is shorter than the sepals.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described 1839 by Augustin Pyramus [de Candolle] from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham who gave it the name Astroloma baxteri. De Candolle's description was published in Prodromus Systematis [Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis]. In 2016, Caroline Puente-Lelievre changed the name to Brachyloma baxteri in Australian Systematic Botany. The specific epithet honours the plant collector William [Baxter (botanist)|William Baxter].

Distribution

Brachyloma baxteri occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.