Balaustion baiocalyx
Balaustion baiocalyx is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and usually white flowers with 22 to 24 stamens.
Description
Balaustion baiocalyx is a shrub that typically grows to high, wide and is single-stemmed at it base. Its leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, usually long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are usually in diameter, each flower on a pedicel long. The floral tube is long and wide and the sepals are often difficult to see, long and wide. The petals are white, long with 22 to 24 stamens. Flowering has been recorded from early September to November, and the fruit is a capsule long and wide.
Taxonomy
Balaustion baiocalyx was first formally described in 2022 by Barbara Lynette Rye in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected in 1937 between Bencubbin and Koorda by William Blackall. The specific epithet means 'small calyx', referring to the small sepals.
This species of Balaustion has been recorded in low shrubland in sand between Kalannie, Dowerin and Koorda in the Avon Wheatbelt bioregion of south-western Western Australia.
Balaustion baiocalyx is listed as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations where it is potentially at risk.