Spyridium microcephalum
{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Speciesbox
|name =
|image = Spyridium microcephalum.jpg
|image_caption = Near Nyabing
|genus = Spyridium
|species = microcephalum
|authority = (Turcz.) Benth.{{cite web |title=Spyridium microcephalum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/54799 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=9 August 2022}}
}}
File:Spyridium microcephalum habit.jpg]]
Spyridium microcephalum is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spreading or erect shrub with linear leaves and heads of woolly-hairy flowers.
Description
Spyridium microcephalum is a low, spreading or slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.1–1.5|m}}, its young branchlets covered with woolly, rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are linear, mostly {{cvt|4–6.5|mm}} long with the edges rolled under obscuring most of the lower surface. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous and the lower surface is woolly-hairy. The heads of flowers are about {{cvt|6.5|mm}} wide with 1 or 2 prominent, woolly-hairy floral leaves at the base. The sepals are less than {{cvt|2|mm}} long and glabrous.{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |last2=von Mueller |first2=Ferdinand |title=Flora Australiensis |volume=1 |date=1863 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |page=434 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/3669#page/492/mode/1up |access-date=9 August 2022}}{{FloraBase|name=Spyridium microcephalum|id=4830}}
Taxonomy
The species was first formally described in 1858 by Nikolai Turczaninow, who gave it the name Cryptandra microcephala in the Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou.{{cite web|title=Cryptandra microcephala|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/507919 |publisher=APNI|access-date=9 August 2022}}{{cite journal|last1=Turczaninow|first1=Nikolai|journal=Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou|date=1858|volume=31|issue=1|title=Animadversiones in secundam partem herbarii Turczaninow, nunc Universitatis Caesareae Charkowiensis |page=458|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151363#page/474/mode/1up |accessdate=9 August 2022}} In 1863, George Bentham changed the name to Spyridium microcephalum in Flora Australiensis.{{cite web|title=Spyridium microcephalum|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/456622|publisher=APNI|access-date=8 July 2022}} The specific epithet (microcephalum) means "small-headed".{{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=252 |edition=3rd}}
Distribution
Spyridium microcephalum occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Hampton and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia. It is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q17241914}}
Category:Flora of Western Australia