Platysace effusa
{{short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Platysace effusa - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg
| genus = Platysace
| species = effusa
| authority = (Turcz.) C.Norman{{cite web |title=Platysace deflexa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/80909 |website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=30 March 2024}}
|synonyms =
- Siebera effusa (Turcz.) Benth.
- Trachymene effusa Turcz.
}}
Platysace effusa is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tuberous, perennial herb or shrub with linear leaves and white flowers in a compound umbel.
Description
Platysace effusa is a tuberous, perennial herb or shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|10–75|cm}}{{FloraBase|name= Platysace effusa|id=6252 }} and has wand-like branches. Its leaves are linear to wedge-shaped, usually {{cvt|4–8.7|mm}} long and often crowded. White flowers are borne in compound umbels with 4 to 8 rays on thin peduncles longer than the leaves, each ray with a partial umbel.{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |title=Flora Australiensis |volume=3 |date=1867 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |page=355 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/41807#page/363/mode/1up |access-date=30 March 2024}} Flowering occurs in most months and the fruit is flat and about {{cvt|2|mm}} long and notched at the base.
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1849 by Nikolai Turczaninow who gave it the name Trachymene effusa in the journal Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou from specimens collected by James Drummond.{{cite web|title=Trachymene effusa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/487394 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=30 March 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Turczaninow |first1=Nikolai |title=Decas sexta generum plantarum hucusque non descriptorum adjectis descriptionibus specierum nonnullarum. |journal=Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou |date=1849 |volume=22 |issue=3 |page=31 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/192493#page/37/mode/1up |access-date=30 March 2024}} In 1939, Cecil Norman transferred the species to Platysace as P. effusa in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign.{{cite web|title=Platysace effusa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/497078 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=30 March 2024}} The specific epithet (effusa) means "spread out" or "straggling" referring to the habit of the plant.{{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=190 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution and habitat
This species of platysace grows on sandplains, sand dunes and hills in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia and is listed as "not threatened".
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q17140463}}
Category:Flora of Western Australia
Category:Endemic flora of Australia