Thryptomene australis

Thryptomene australis is an erect, bushy and spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|0.8–3.5|m}} with upwards-pointing leaves with the tip curving outwards. The leaves are linear to narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|4–7|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.5–1.2|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|0.7–1|mm}} long. The flowers are arranged in pairs in up to eleven leaf axils near the end of branchlets. The flowers are {{cvt|6–7|mm}} diameter with egg-shaped to broadly elliptic white or pale pink sepals about {{cvt|1.4|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.6–2.0|mm}} wide. The petals are white, broadly egg-shaped, {{cvt|2.0–2.4|mm}} long, and there are seven to ten stamens. Flowering mainly occurs between July and November and the fruit is a nut about {{cvt|2.5|mm}} long and wide.{{cite journal |last1=Rye |first1=Barbara L. |last2=Trudgen |first2=Malcolm E. |title=A taxonomic revision of Thryptomene section Thryptomene (Myrtaceae) |journal=Nuytsia |date=2001 |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=514–518 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/225810#page/110/mode/1up |access-date=23 April 2021}}{{Citation | author1=Pieroni, Margaret | title=Thryptomene australis, T. duplicata, T. eremaea [art original] | date=2001 | publisher=[s.n.] | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/23219868 | accessdate=23 February 2020 }}

Thryptomene australis was first formally described in 1838 by Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher in Stirpium Australasicarum Herbarii Hugeliani Decades Tres, published in the journal Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte and was the first species of Thryptomene described.{{cite web|title=Thryptomene australis|url= http://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/491314 |publisher=APNI|access-date=23 April 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Endlicher |first1=Stephan |title=Stirpium Australasicarum Herbarii Hugeliani Decades Tres |journal=Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte |date=1838 |volume=2 |page=192 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41200333#page/206/mode/1up |access-date=23 April 2021}} The specific epithet (australis) means "southern".{{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=141 |edition=3rd}}

In 2001, Barbara Lynette Rye and Malcolm Eric Trudgen described two subspecies in the journal Nuytsia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

• Thryptomene australis Endl. subsp. australis{{cite web|title=Thryptomene australis subsp. australis|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/170134|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=23 April 2021}} has eight to twelve stamens on filaments usually longer than {{cvt|0.8|mm}};
• Thryptomene australis subsp. brachyandra Rye & Trudgen{{cite web|title=Thryptomene australis subsp. brachyandra|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/170136|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=23 April 2021}} has seven to ten stamens on filaments usually shorter than {{cvt|0.6|mm}}.

Both subspecies of hook-leaf thryptomene are widely distributed in the south-west of Western Australia where they mainly grow on granite outcrops but also on plains, around salt lakes and creeklines and in firebreaks in gravelly, sandy, clay or loamy soils. The species occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Mallee and Coolgardie biogeographic regions but subsp. australis is mostly absent from the last of these.{{FloraBase|name= Thryptomene australis subsp. australis|id=19698 }}{{FloraBase|name= Thryptomene australis subsp. brachyandra|id=19699 }}

Both subspecies of Thryptomene australis are list as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.

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australis

Category:Endemic flora of Western Australia

Category:Rosids of Western Australia

Category:Taxa named by Stephan Endlicher

Category:Plants described in 1838