Thysanotus admirabilis
Thysanotus admirabilis is a species of flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family, and is endemic to the Queensland, Australia. It is a tufted, clumping, perennial herb with yellow tubers, 20 to 40 linear leaves at the base of the plant, and panicles of purple flowers with hairy buds, and six stamens, the ovary with two ovules per locule.
Description
Thysanotus admirabilis is a tufted, clumping, perennial herb with a rootstock in diameter. It has 20 to 40 linear leaves long and long and channelled near the base. The flowers are borne in panicles long, usually only branching from the top. Each umbel has more than 20 flowers, each flower on a pedicel long. The flower buds are covered with woolly hairs and the flowers are purple, the sepals lance-shaped, wide with creamy edges, and the perianth long with a purple fringe wide with a darker purplish strip in the centre. There are six stamens and the ovary has two ovules per locule.
Taxonomy
Thysanotus admirabilis was first formally described in 2022 by Juan Wang in the journal Austrobaileya from specimens collected in Mariala National Park. The specific epithet means 'admirable', referring to the "surprising and astonishing of the flower perianth, which is covered with white hairs".
Distribution and habitat
This species is only known from the Mariala National Park and adjacent areas of a neighbouring grazing property in the Mulga Lands bioregion. It grows in run-off areas of low Acacia aneura woodland with scattered Eucalyptus populnea and Eremophila species in reddish-brown soils.
Conservation status
Thysanotus admirabilis is listed as of "least concern" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992.