Spyridium glaucum

Spyridium glaucum is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of south-western Western Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with egg-shaped leaves, and clusters of 3 to 6 rusty-hairy flowers.

Description

Spyridium glaucum is an erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of, its young stems densely hairy, the hairs pressed against the surface. Its leaves are usually egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, sometimes oblong to elliptic, long and wide on a petiole long, and with the edges turned down or rolled under. The flowers are borne in heads of 3 to 6, the heads wide and densely covered with rust-coloured hairs. The floral tube is long and the sepals long. Flowering occurs from September to November.

Taxonomy

Spyridium glaucum was first formally described in 1995 by Barbara Lynette Rye in the Nuytsia from specimens collected by Eleanor [Marion Bennett] near Ravensthorpe, [Western Australia|Ravensthorpe] in 1979. The specific epithet means "bluish-green or grey", referring to the colour of the leaves.

Distribution

This spyridium is only known from hills north-east of Ravensthorpe in the Esperance Plains bioregion of south-western Western Australia.