Cryptandra polyclada

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}

{{Speciesbox

|image =

|image_caption =

|genus = Cryptandra

|species = polyclada

|authority = Diels{{cite web |title=Cryptandra polyclada |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/87859|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=29 January 2023}}

|synonyms_ref =

|synonyms =

}}

Cryptandra polyclada is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a low, spreading to mat-forming or erect shrub with white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped flowers. It was first formally described in 1904 by Ludwig Diels in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie from specimens collected near Tammin.{{cite web |title=Cryptandra polyclada |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/805160 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=29 January 2023}}{{cite journal |last1=Diels |first1=Ludwig |last2=Engler |first2=Adolf |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae occidentalis. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Pflanzen Westaustraliens, ihrer Verbreitung und ihrer Lebensverhaltnisse. |journal=Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie |date=1904 |volume=35 |issue=2–3 |pages=358–359 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/660#page/387/mode/1up |access-date=29 January 2023}} The specific epithet (polyclada) means "many shoots".{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=281 |edition=3rd}}

In 1995, Barbara Lynette Rye described two subspecies of C. polyclada in the journal Nuytsia, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Cryptandra polyclada subsp. aequabilis Rye{{cite web |title=Cryptandra polyclada subsp. aequabilis |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/170403|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=29 January 2023}} is a low, dense, spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|10–40|cm}}, has leaves {{cvt|1.8–2.8|mm}} long, white flowers, the floral tube about {{cvt|1.0|mm}} long densely covered with star-shaped hairs, and sepals {{cvt|0.8|mm}} long. Flowering occurs in October. This subspecies is only known from in or near Boorabbin National Park where it grows in sand in the Coolgardie bioregion of sourh-western Western Australia.{{cite journal |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=New and priority taxa in the genera Cryptandra and Stenanthemum (Rhamnaceae) of Western Australia |journal=Nuytsia |date=1995 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=276–277 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/225398#page/140/mode/1up |access-date=29 January 2023}}{{FloraBase|id=16192|name=Cryptandra polyclada subsp. aequabilis}}
• Cryptandra polyclada Diels subsp. polyclada{{cite web |title=Cryptandra polyclada subsp. polyclada |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/170402|publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=29 January 2023}} is a mat-forming, sometimes erect shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|10–70|cm}}, has leaves {{cvt|2.1–4.1|mm}} long, white or cream-coloured flowers, the floral tube {{cvt|0.7–1.1|mm}} long usually densely covered with star-shaped hairs, and sepals {{cvt|0.6–1.1|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from January to May. This subspecies occurs near Tammin and from near Hyden to east of Lake King in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions.{{FloraBase|id=16193|name=Cryptandra polyclada subsp. polyclada}}

Subspecies aequabilis is listed as "Priority One" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is known from only one or a few locations which are potentially at risk,{{cite web|title=Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna|url=https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/plants-animals/threatened-species/Listings/Conservation%20code%20definitions.pdf|publisher=Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife|accessdate=29 January 2023}} and subsp. polyclada as "Priority Three", meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.