Cyanothamnus tenuis
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
|image =
|image_caption =
|genus = Cyanothamnus
|species = tenuis
|status_system = DECF
|status = P4
|authority = Lindl.{{cite web |title=Cyanothamnus tenuis |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:772337-1 |publisher=Plants of the World Online |access-date=22 September 2021}}
|synonyms = Boronia tenuis(Lindl.( Benth.
|range_map = Boronia tenuis DistMap120.png
|range_map_caption = Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium
}}
Cyanothamnus tenuis, commonly known as blue boronia,{{FloraBase|name=Boronia tenuis|id=4444}} is a species of plant in the citrus family, Rutaceae, and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a slender shrub with thread-like, sessile leaves, and flowers with four petals that are white to pink on the front and pale blue on the back.
Description
Cyanothamnus tenuis is a slender, woody shrub that grows to a height of {{convert|10-50|cm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}}. The leaves are sessile, thread-like, {{convert|5-20|mm|in|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} long with a channel along the upper surface. The flowers are borne singly or in groups of two or three in leaf axils on a thin pedicel {{cvt|7-15|mm}} long. The four sepals are narrow triangular or narrow egg-shaped and about {{cvt|3|mm}} long. The petals are white to pink but pale blue on the back with a darker midline, {{cvt|6-7|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from August to December.{{cite web |last1=Duretto |first1=Marco F. |last2=Wilson |first2=Paul G. |last3=Ladiges |first3=Pauline Y. |title=Boronia tenuis |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Boronia%20tenuis |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra |accessdate=8 May 2019}}
Taxonomy and naming
Cyanothamnus tenuis was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley in A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.{{cite web|title=Cyanothamnus tenuis|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/513323|publisher=APNI|accessdate=8 May 2019}}{{cite book |last1=Lindley |first1=John |title=A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colonly (Appendix) |date=1839 |publisher=James Ridgway |location=Piccadilly |page=xviii |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/29179#page/28/mode/1up |accessdate=8 May 2019}} In 1863, George Bentham changed the name to Boronia tenuis,{{cite web|title=Boronia tenuis|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/466639|publisher=APNI|accessdate=8 May 2019}} but in a 2013 paper in the journal Taxon, Marco Duretto and others changed the name back to C. tenuis on the basis of cladistic analysis.{{cite journal |last1=Duretto |first1=Marco F. |last2=Heslewood |first2=Margaret M. |last3=Bayly |first3=Michael J. |title=Boronia (Rutaceae) is polyphyletic: Reinstating Cyanothamnus and the problems associated with inappropriately defined outgroups |journal=Taxon |date=2020 |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=481–499 |doi=10.1002/tax.12242}} The specific epithet (tenuis) is a Latin word meaning "thin".{{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Roland Wilbur|title=The Composition of Scientific Words|date=1956|publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press|location=Washington, D.C.|page =787}}
Distribution and habitat
This species grows on laterite and granite in stony soils. It is found on the Darling Scarp between Dwellingup and Wannamal in the Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.
Conservation status
Cyanothamnus tenuis is classed as is classified as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife, meaning that is rare or near threatened.{{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=8 May 2019}}
References
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Category:Flora of Western Australia