Ptilotus maconochiei
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| Ptilotus maconochiei | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Caryophyllales |
| Family: | Amaranthaceae |
| Genus: | Ptilotus |
| Species: | P. maconochiei |
| Binomial name | |
| Ptilotus maconochiei | |
Ptilotus maconochiei is a species of flowering plant in the family Amaranthaceae and is endemic to inland Queensland in Australia. It is a tufted shrub with spatula-shaped or broadly elliptic leaves and compact spikes of dull pink flowers.
Ptilotus maconochiei is a tufted shrub that typically grows to about 80 cm (31 in) high and wide with woolly hairs on the stems and leaves. Its leaves are spatula-shaped or boradly elliptic, 8–20 mm (0.31–0.79 in) long, 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) wide, thick and fleshy. The uppermost leaves grade into bracts. The flowers are purplish, turning pink and arranged in compact cone-shaped or egg-shaped spikes 7–12 mm (0.28–0.47 in) long and 8–11 mm (0.31–0.43 in) wide, each flower with perianth segments 4.5–5 mm (0.18–0.20 in) long.[2]
Taxonomy
Ptilotus maconochiei was first formally described in 1979 by Gerard Benl in the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens from specimens collected at the Mount Isa City Lookout in 1978.[2][3] The specific epithet (maconochiei) honours "John R. Maconochie, senior botanist in the herbarium of the Northern Territory".[2]