Calytrix sapphirina
Calytrix sapphirina is a species of flowering plant in the myrtle family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a shrub with hairy branchlets, linear to elliptic leaves and deep pink, mauve or magenta flowers with about 30 to 45 stamens in several rows.
Description
Calytrix sapphirina is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has branchlets covered with soft hairs. Its leaves are linear to elliptic, long and wide on a petiole long, with stipules up to long at the base of the petiole. The flowers are usually tightly clustered on a peduncle long with spatula-shaped bracteoles long. The floral tube is spindle-shaped, long and has ten ribs. The sepals are mostly broadly elliptic, long, wide with an awn up to long. The petals are deep pink, mauve or magenta and there are 30 to 45 stamens with deep pink, dark purple or reddish-purple filaments in two or more rows. Flowering occurs in most months, but mainly from August to November.
Taxonomy
Calytrix sapphirina was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley in his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. The specific epithet means 'like a sapphire or ruby'.
Distribution and habitat
This species of Calytrix grows in heath on yellow sand or over laterite and in Banksia woodland from the lower Murchison River southwards to the Yanchep-Gingin district and east and south-eastward to the Southern Cross and Lake Grace districts, in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Murchison and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.
Conservation status
Calytrix sapphirina is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.