Balaustion filifolium
Balaustion filifolium is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to inland Western Australia. It is a prostrate or low-growing shrub with narrowly egg-shaped to linear leaves with a small point on the end, and pale pink flowers with 16 to 24 stamens.
Description
Balaustion filifolium is a prostrate or low-growing shrub that typically grows to high and wide. Its leaves are arranged in dense clusters, sometimes pressed against the stems, mostly narrowly triangular to linear, long wide and thick on a petiole long. The leaves have a small, hard tip on the end and one or two rows of oil glands either side of the midvein. The flowers are in diameter, each flower on a pedicel long. The floral tube is more or less hemispherical, long and wide and the sepals are egg-shaped, long and wide with a red tinge. The petals are pale pink, long with 16 to 24 stamens. Flowering has been recorded from August to October, and the fruit is a capsule long and in diameter.
Taxonomy
Balaustion filifolium was first formally described in 2022 by Barbara Lynette Rye in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected near Beringbooding in 1957. The specific epithet means 'thread-leaved'.
Distribution and habitat
This species of Balaustion has been recorded on sand plains and near granite outcrops from Beringbooding Rock to west of Mukinbudin in the Avon Wheatbelt and Coolgardie bioregions, and is usually recorded growing with Acacia species.
Conservation status
Balaustion filifolium is listed as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.