Verticordia carinata (Verticordia carinata)
Description
Verticordia carinata, commonly known as pea-shaped featherflower or Stirling Range featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with small, well-spaced leaves and pink and red flowers. It is a rarely seen plant, not known between its description in 1849 and its rediscovery in 1990. Verticordia carinata is a slender, spindly shrub which grows to a height of 0.4–1.0 m (1–3 ft) and has a single, branching stem at its base. The leaves are well spaced along the branches, elliptic to oblong in shape, dished, 3–4.5 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long and have fine, short hairs on their edges. The flowers are scented, arranged in a double-sided spike with one flower per leaf axil, held horizontally on a stalk 5–7.5 mm (0.2–0.3 in) long. The flowers open gradually from the bottom of the spike and superficially resemble pea flowers. The floral cup is top-shaped, 2.0 mm (0.08 in) long and glabrous. The sepals are magenta to pink, fading as they age, 3.5–4.0 mm (0.14–0.16 in) long, with 5 or 6 feathery lobes. The petals are the same colour as the sepals, egg-shaped and 3.5–4.0 mm (0.14–0.16 in). The style is 6.5–7 mm (0.26–0.28 in) long, extending beyond the petals, curved with hairs near the tip. Flowering time is mainly from late November to May but flowers are often present at other times.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Myrtales
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Family: Myrtaceae
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Genus: Verticordia
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