Diocirea microphylla

Diocirea microphylla is a shrub with many stems and which sometimes grows to a height of {{convert|0.8|m|ft|sigfig=1}} and spreads to a width of {{convert|1.6|m|ft|sigfig=1}}. Its branches are less than about {{convert|1|mm|in|sigfig=1}} in diameter and unlike others in the genus, lack raised glands. The leaves are mostly {{convert|1.5-2|mm|in|sigfig=1}} long, about {{convert|1|mm|in|sigfig=1}} wide, egg-shaped, pressed against the stem and sticky due to the presence of resin.{{cite book|last1=Chinnock|first1=R.J. (Bob)|title=Eremophila and allied genera : a monograph of the plant family Myoporaceae|date=2007|publisher=Rosenberg|location=Dural, NSW|isbn=9781877058165|pages=174–176|edition=1st}}

The flowers are borne singly in leaf axils and lack a stalk. There are 5 egg-shaped, pointed green sepals joined together at their base. The petals are white or pale violet joined to form a tube {{convert|1.5-2.5|mm|in|sigfig=1}} long with lobes which are about the same length and are spotted purple near their bases. The tube is mostly glabrous except for a few hairs on the bottom lobe. There are 4 stamens which extend slightly beyond the petal tube. The fruit that follows flowering is cone-shaped, dark brown, wrinkled and glabrous and about {{convert|2x1.5|mm|in|sigfig=1}}.

Diocirea microphylla was first formally described by taxonomist Bob Chinnock in Eremophila and allied genera: a monograph of the plant family Myoporaceae in 2007 from a specimen collected near Coolgardie.{{cite web|title=Diocerea microphylla|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/boa/name/apni/164747|publisher=APNI|accessdate=6 December 2015}} Chinnock states that the specific epithet is derived from "Greek microphylla, small leaves". In ancient Greek, the feminine adjective mikrophyllos (μικρόφυλλος) means "with small leaves",Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. (1940). A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie.Oxford: Clarendon Press. the same meaning that is ascribed to the feminine adjective microphylla in botanical Latin.Backer, C.A. (1936). Verklarend woordenboek der wetenschappelijke namen van de in Nederland en Nederlandsch-Indië in het wild groeiende en in tuinen en parken gekweekte varens en hoogere planten (Edition Nicoline van der Sijs).

Diocirea microphylla occurs in a small area north of Coolgardie in the Coolgardie biogeographic region where it grows in woodland on clay loam. Only a few populations are known but in several of these it forms an almost continuous ground cover with thousands of individual plants.{{FloraBase|name=Diocirea microphylla Chinnock|id = 14888}}{{cite book|last1=Paczkowska|first1=Grazyna|last2=Chapman|first2=Alex R.|title=The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue|date=2000|publisher=Wildflower Society of Western Australia|location=Perth|isbn=0646402439|page=332}}

Diocirea microphylla has been classified as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.{{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=11 July 2019}}

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microphylla

Category:Lamiales of Australia

Category:Plants described in 2007

Category:Endemic flora of Western Australia