Petrophile linearis

Location & distribution maps

Common name:         Pixie Mops

Conservation status: Least Concern

• This petrophile is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife

Etymology:   

• The name Petrophile is derived from the Greek words petra = rock and philos = seeking or preferring, referring to the rocky habitat in which some species grow

• The specific epithet (linearis) refers to the linear leaves

Flowers

• The flowers are arranged on the ends of branchlets or in leaf axils in sessile, oval to spherical heads up to 25 mm in diameter

• It has many linear, tapering involucral bracts at the base

• The flowers are up to 35 mm long, hairy, greyish-pink or mauve to almost white

• Flowering occurs from August to November and 

Fruit:                            

• A nut, fused with others in an oval head about 25 mm long

Leaves:         

• It has glabrous leaves

• The leaves are narrow egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 50–120 mm long, 1.5–10 mm wide and usually curved

Stem & branches: 

• It has glabrous branchlets and leaves

Roots:         

Habit:        

• A shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1 m 

Habitat:   

• Woodland and heath on the coastal plain 

Distribution:                  

• Darling Range from Jurien Bay and Eneabba to Yallingup

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

  • Petrophile linearis was first formally described in 1830 by Robert Brown in the Supplementum to his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen from material collected by Charles Fraser near the Swan River in 1826

Sources of information:

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