Eremaea acutifolia

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

• Eremaea acutifolia, commonly known as rusty eremaea, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia

• It is a small shrub with needle-like leaves and which bears orange-coloured flowers on short side branches and fruits with a surface that is rough to the touch

Common name:         ...

Conservation status: Poorly Known

• Eremaea acutifolia is classified as "Priority Three" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet (acutifolia) is from the Latin acutus meaning "sharp" or "pointed"  and folium meaning "a leaf" referring to the pointed leaves of this species

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are usually orange, rarely dark pink and are on the ends of short side branches off the previous year's wood

• The flowers occur singly, rarely two together

• There are 5 sepals which are hairy on the outside surface and 5 petals 3–4 mm long

• The stamens are arranged in 5 bundles, each containing 28 to 34 stamens

• Flowering occurs from August to November

Fruit:                         

• Fruits are woody capsules

• The capsules are 3.5–6 mm long, shaped like an inverted cone and are rough or lumpy on the outer surface

Leaves:         

• The leaves are linear to narrow elliptic in shape, 3.6–9.5 mm long, 0.5–1.2 mm wide 

• They have a single prominent vein visible on the lower surface

Stem & branches: 

Roots:         

Habit:        

• An erect to spreading shrub which sometimes grows to a height of 0.7 m and which, unlike some others in the genus, lacks a lignotuber

Habitat:   

• It grows in sand on sandplains

Distribution:                  

• It is only found in a small area east of Geraldton in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy and naming

  • Eremaea acutifolia was first formally described in 1860 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eremaea_acutifolia (2023)