Stenanthemum pumilum

Stenanthemum pumilum is a compact shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|2–5|cm}}, sometimes to {{cvt|15|cm}}, but up to {{cvt|15|cm}} wide, its young stems covered with silvery or rust-coloured hairs. Its leaves are narrowly egg-shaped to broadly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|2.5–14|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.8–5|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1–3|mm}} long with egg-shaped or broadly triangular stipules {{cvt|1.5–4|mm}} long sheathing the stems. The lower surface of the leaves is densely covered with soft hairs pressed against the surface. The flowers are white to creamy-white, densely covered with woolly hairs and borne in clusters of 10 to 30, {{cvt|5–10|mm}} wide. The floral tube is {{cvt|1.5–2.6|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.0–1.4|mm}} wide, the sepals densely woolly-hairy and {{cvt|0.8–1.4|mm}} long, and the petals {{cvt|0.5–0.7|mm}} long. Flowering time depends on subspecies, and the fruit is {{cvt|1.8–2.6|mm}} long.{{cite web |title=Stenanthemum pumilum |last1=Kellerman |first1=Jurgen|last2=Thiele |first2=Kevin R.|editor-last1=Kodela |editor-first1=Phillip G. | url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Stenanthemum%20pumilum |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date= 24 January 2023}}{{FloraBase|id=13477|name=Stenanthemum pumilum}}{{cite journal |last1=Kellermann |first1=Jürgen |last2=Thiele |first2=Kevin R. |title=The other ‘propeller plant’ – Notes on Stenanthemum Reissek (Rhamnaceae: Pomaderreae) and a key to the genus in Australia |journal=Swainsona |date=2021 |volume=35 |pages=20–21 |url=https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Content/Publications/JABG35P011_Kellermann.pdf |access-date=24 January 2023}}

This species was first formally described in 1875 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Spyridium pumilum in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens he collected in the Stirling Range.{{cite web|title=Spyridium pumilum|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/457119|publisher=APNI|access-date=24 January 2023}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae |date=1875 |publisher=Victorian Government Printer |location=Melbourne |pages=137–138 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7226#page/138/mode/1up |access-date=24 January 2023}} In 1904, Ludwig Diels changed the name to Stenanthemum pumilum in the journal Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie.{{cite web|title=Stenanthemum pumilum|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/474231|publisher=APNI|accessdate=24 January 2023}} The specific epithet (pumilum) means "diminutive" or "little".{{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=287 |edition=3rd}}

In 2007, Barbara Lynette Rye described two subspecies of S. pumilum, and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Stenanthemum pumilum subsp. majus Rye{{cite web |title=Stenanthemum pumilum subsp. majus |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/209252 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=24 January 2023}} has leaf blades {{cvt|9–14|mm}} long and the free part of the floral tube {{cvt|1.8–2.6|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from September to December.{{cite journal |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |title=New species and keys for Cryptandra and Stenanthemum (Rhamnaceae) in Western Australia. |journal=Nuytsia |date=2007 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=377–379 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/313227#page/119/mode/1up |access-date=25 January 2023}}{{cite web |title=Stenanthemum pumilum subsp. majus |last1=Kellerman |first1=Jurgen|last2=Thiele |first2=Kevin R.|editor-last1=Kodela |editor-first1=Phillip G. | url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Stenanthemum%20pumilum%20subsp.%20majus |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date= 24 January 2023}}{{FloraBase|id=31633|name=Stenanthemum pumilum subsp. majus}}
• Stenanthemum pumilum (F.Muell.) Diels subsp. pumilum{{cite web |title=Stenanthemum pumilumsubsp. pumilum |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/209251 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=24 January 2023}} has leaf blades {{cvt|4–7|mm}} long and the free part of the floral tube about {{cvt|1|mm}} long. Flowering occurs in September and October.{{cite web |title=Stenanthemum pumilum |last1=Kellerman |first1=Jurgen|last2=Thiele |first2=Kevin R.|editor-last1=Kodela |editor-first1=Phillip G. | url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Stenanthemum%20pumilum%20subsp.%20pumilum |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment: Canberra |access-date= 24 January 2023}}{{FloraBase|id=13477|name=Stenanthemum pumilum}}

Stenanthemum pumilum subsp. majas grows with Allocasuarina and Eucalyptus species, often in gravelly laterite or on granite outcrops, between the Brookton Highway and Highbury in the Avon Wheatbelt and Jarrah Forest bioregions of south-western Western Australia. Subspecies pumilum mostly grows in low heath and is restricted to the eastern half of the Stirling Range in the Esperance Plains bioregion.

Subspecies majus is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, but subsp. pumilum is listed as "Priority Three", 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=25 January 2023}}

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{{Taxonbar|from1=Q17242071|from2=Q51055352|from3=Q100497751}}

pumilum

Category:Rosales of Australia

Category:Flora of Western Australia

Category:Plants described in 1875

Category:Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller