Philotheca thryptomenoides


Philotheca thryptomenoides is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small undershrub with oval to club-shaped leaves and white flowers with a broad, reddish-brown stripe, arranged singly on the ends of branchlets.

Description

Philotheca thryptomenoides is an undershrub that typically grows to a height of about and has smooth, dark-coloured to black branchlets. The leaves are oval to club-shaped, long and flat on the upper surface. The flowers are arranged singly on the ends of branchlets and are sessile or on a pedicel up to long. The five sepals are egg-shaped, long, and the five petals are narrowly egg-shaped, white with a central reddish-brown stripe and about long. The ten stamens are free from each other and densely hairy. Flowering occurs from July to September and the fruit is long.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1920 by Spencer Le Marchant Moore who gave it the name Erisotemon thryptomenoides in the Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany. In 1998, Paul Wilson changed the name to Philotheca thryptomenoides in the journal Nuytsia.

Distribution and habitat

This philotheca grows in shrubland on heavy soil in the Merredin-Wubin area in the south-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

Philotheca thryptomenoides is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.