Mirbelia spinosa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Mirbelia
Species:
M. spinosa
Binomial name
Mirbelia spinosa
(Benth.) Benth.[1]
Synonyms[1]

Dichosema spinosum Benth.
Mirbelia spinosa (Benth.) Benth. f. spinosa Diels & E.Pritz.

Mirbelia spinosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spiny shrub with narrowly linear leaves and yellow, orange and reddish-brown flowers.

Description

Mirbelia spinosa is a spiny shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.2–1.5 m (7.9 in – 4 ft 11.1 in) and has erect or wand-like branches. The leaves are narrowly linear, less than 12 mm (0.47 in) long with the edges rolled under, and clustered around rigid thorns. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils and are sessile, the sepals about 6 mm (0.24 in) long, softly-hairy and joined at the base, the lobes nearly as long as the sepal tube. The petals are yellow, orange and reddish-brown, the standard petal almost twice as long as the sepals, the wings shorter than the standard and the keel shorter still. Flowering occurs from June to November.[2][3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1837 by George Bentham who gave it the name Dichosema spinosum in Stephan Endlicher's Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel from specimens collected at King George Sound.[4][5] In 1864, Bentham changed the name to Mirbelia spinosa in Flora Australiensis.[5][6] The specific epithet (spinosa) means "spiny", referring to the "thorns, (abortive branchlets)".[7]

Distribution and habitat

Mirbelia spinosa grows on sandy soil on plains, hills, ridges and on granite in the Avon Wheatbelt, Carnarvon, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Murchison and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "Mirbelia spinosa". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  2. ↑ Bentham, George; von Mueller, Ferdinand (1864). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 2. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 36. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Mirbelia spinosa". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ↑ "Dichosema spinosum". APNI. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 Bentham, George (1837). Endlicher, Stefan F.L.; Fenzl, Eduard; Bentham, George; Schott, Heinrich W. (eds.). Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hüge. pp. 35–36. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "Mirbelia spinosa". APNI. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
  7. ↑ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 311. ISBN 9780958034180.
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