Spyridium polycephalum

{{Short description|Species of shrub}}

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

{{Speciesbox

| image = Spyridium polycephalum.jpg

| image_caption = In Tarin Rock Nature Reserve

| genus = Spyridium

| species = polycephalum

| authority = (Turcz.) Rye{{cite web |title=Spyridium polycephalum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/170382 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=24 October 2022}}

| synonyms_ref =

| synonyms = Trymalium polycephalum Turcz.

}}

Spyridium polycephalum is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.3–1|m}} and has white to cream-coloured flowers from April to November. It grows in heathlands and shrublands on coastal dunes, rocky hillsides and plains in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of southern Western Australia.{{FloraBase|name=Spyridium polycephalum|id=15140}}

This spyridium was first formally described in 1858 by Nikolai Turczaninow, who gave it the name Trimalium polycephalum in the Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou from specimens collected by James Drummond.{{cite web|title=Trimalium polycephalum|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/533397 |publisher=APNI|access-date=24 October 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=460|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151363#page/476/mode/1up |accessdate=24 October 2022}} In 1995, Barbara Lynette Rye changed the name to Spyridium polycephalum in the journal Nuytsia.{{cite web |title=Spyridium polycephalum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/568400 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |accessdate=24 October 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=New and priority taxa in the genera Spyridium and Trymalium (Rhamnaceae) of Western Australia. |journal=Nuytsia |date=1995 |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=128 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/224896#page/134/mode/1up |access-date=24 October 2022}} The specific epithet (polycephalum) means "many-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=281 |edition=3rd}}