Chorizema nanum is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender, erect to spreading or low-lying shrub with holly-like leaves and yellow and pink, pea-like flowers.[2]

Chorizema nanum
In Porongurup National Park
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Chorizema
Species:
C. nanum
Binomial name
Chorizema nanum
Synonyms[1]
  • Chorizema nana R.Br. orth. var.
  • Pultenaea nana Andrews
  • Chorizema ilicifolium auct. non Labill.: Smith, J.E. (1808)
  • Chorizema ilicifolium auct. non Labill.: Dumont de Courset, G.L.M. (1814)
  • Chorizema ilicifolium auct. non Labill.: Bonpland, A.J.A. (1815)
  • Chorizema ilicifolium auct. non Labill.: Bentham, G.(5 October 1864)

Description

edit

Chorizema nanum is a slender, erect to spreading or low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 40 cm (16 in). Its leaves are stiff and holly-like, elliptic with undulating, spiny lobes. The flowers are yellow and pink, arranged in racemes in leaf axils, each flower on a short pedicel, the sepals joined at the base with two "lips". The standard petal is yellow with a notched tip and a red, streaked star-shape at the base. The wings crimson narrow and about the same length as the standard and the keel white with purple tips and less than half as long as the wings.[2][3]

Taxonomy

edit

This species was first formally described in 1806 by Henry Cranke Andrews, who gave it the name Pultenaea nana in The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants.[4][5] In 1807, John Sims transferred the species to Chorizema as C. nanum in the Botanical Magazine.[3][6] The specific epithet (nanum) means "dwarf".[7]

Distribution and habitat

edit

Chorizema nanum grows in sandy soils and clay loam on scree slopes and on hills in the Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[2] The species is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[2]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Chorizema nanum". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d "Chorizema nanum". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. ^ a b Sims, John (1807). "Chorizema nanum Dwarf Chorizema". Curtis's Botanical Magazine. 26: 1032. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Pultenaea". APNI. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  5. ^ Andrews, Henry Cranke (1806). The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants. Vol. 7. London: H.C.Andrews. p. 434. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  6. ^ "Chorizema nanum". APNI. Retrieved 17 September 2023.
  7. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 259. ISBN 9780958034180.