Thomasia dielsii
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Thomasia dielsii | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malvales |
| Family: | Malvaceae |
| Genus: | Thomasia |
| Species: | T. dielsii |
| Binomial name | |
| Thomasia dielsii | |
Thomasia dielsii is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low, erect to spreading shrub with egg-shaped leaves with wavy edges, and purple, violet and blue flowers.
Thomasia dielsii is an erect to spreading shrub that typically grows to 0.2–0.4 m (7.9 in – 1 ft 3.7 in) high, 0.8–1 m (2 ft 7 in – 3 ft 3 in) wide and has its young stems covered in greyish, star-shaped. The leaves are egg-shaped to oblong, 15–25 mm (0.59–0.98 in) long and 6–7 mm (0.24–0.28 in) wide on a petiole 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long. The edges of the leaves are wavy and slightly serrated, the upper surface with a few star-shaped hairs, the lower surface more densely hairy. There are hairy, smaller leaf-like stipules at the base of the petioles. The flowers are arranged in racemes of 4 to 9, each flower on a hairy pedicel 5–7 mm (0.20–0.28 in) long, with hairy, linear bracteoles about 6 mm (0.24 in) long at the base. The sepals are purple, violet and blue, 9–10 mm (0.35–0.39 in) long, and there are no petals, the style protruding above the stamens.[2][3]
Taxonomy and naming
Thomasia dielsii was first formally described in 1904 by Ernst Georg Pritzel in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie from specimens he collected near Cranbrook.[4][5] The specific epithet (dielsii) honours Ludwig Diels.[2]