Calytrix acutifolia

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         ...

Conservation status: Least Concern

• This species is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions

Etymology:   

• The genus name (Calytrix) means "calyx hair", referring to the sepal awns (calyx is the outer whorl of a flower; the sepals)

• The specific epithet (acutifolia) means "sharply pointed leaves"

Flowers

• The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils with green to light brown bracteoles 3–5 mm long

• The floral tube is more or less cylindrical, with 5 to 7 ribs and 3.5–4.5 mm long

• The sepals are glabrous, 1.0–2.3 mm long and lack an awn

• The petals are white, 7.5–10 mm long and 2.0–2.5 mm wide and there are 40 to 85 cream to light yellow stamens in 2 to 4 rows. 

• Flowering occurs between April and December with a peak from mid-October to early November

Fruit:                            

Leaves:         

• Linear to lance-shaped leaves 2.5–15 mm long and 0.5–1.0 mm wide on a petiole 0.5–1.25 mm long

• There is usually a stipule up to 0.75 mm long at the base of the petiole

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A slender, openly-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2 m 

Habitat:   

• Hill slopes and gullies in wandoo and marri woodlands on the escarpment

Distribution:                  

• Darling Range and Pinjarra plain in the Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • This species was first described in 1839 by John Lindley who gave it the name Lhotskya acutifolia in his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony

  • In 1987, Lyndley Craven transferred the species to Calytrix as C. acutifolia in the journal Brunonia

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calytrix_acutifolia (2024)