#rutaceae

Apparently I haven't talked about this species before, other than mentioning it in passing when discussing a pollinator.

Variously known as Eriostemon ebracteatum, ebracteatus, effusus, racemosum, racemosus and spicatus, until it and a bunch of other Eriostemon species got moved to Philotheca in 1998. Philotheca, incidentally, should have been spelt Psilotheca, from the Ancient Greek words for "bare sheath" referring to the smooth tube of the stamens. The Latin 'spicata' refers to the flowerspike - spike having the same derivation. The common name is more confusing - it may refer to the contrast beyween the bright flowers and duller foliage.

A common subshrub in sand or loam over laterite between Eneabba and Albany.

Named in 1841 by John Lindley and published in Edwards's Botanical Register, that was published from 1815 to 1847. Lindley was editor from 1827, and in 1839 issued an Appendix to the First Twenty-Three Volumes of Edwards's Botanical Register, which included his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony. That's another title that's shown up a lot when I'm researching WA endemics.

A small, 40cm shrub with roughly egg-shaped leaves - hence the specific epithet - that grows on the Darling Escarpment in gravelly and sandy soils. The genus was named after Fransesco Borone, an 18th century Italian botanist.

The flowers may also be mauve.

A recent discovery in Boronia biology is how those species with closed flowers manage to get pollinated. It turns out there are tiny day-flying moths in the Heliozelid family that lay eggs inside the flower, and collect pollen in a unique structure on the tip of their abdomen. Their caterpillars will eat some of the seeds when they hatch. Heliozelids are *wildly* more diverse than we previously knew, and whether they're living inside Boronia flowers, or more usually as leafminers inside Eucalyptus leaves, appear to be extremely host-specific. There are probably thousands of species waiting to be described here in Australia.

Originally described in 1848 by William Jackson Hooker as Phebalium squamuligerum. The specific epithet means "bearing small scales" but I don't know which part of the plant is considered very scaley.

A shrub, up to 50cm, growing on laterite in surpisingly patchy distribution in parts of SW Australia. It's not as though laterite is rare over here. Just look at the large boulder behind the plant.

There are three subspecies, but they're pretty limited in their geographic distribution. The one is found on sandplains around Pingelly, and south down to Dryandra by the look of it. However, it's considered a Threatened subspecies because almost all land out that way has been entirely cleared for agriculture.

A small shrub in the Citrus family, found in the wheatbelt and up to the Geraldton Sandplain, growing in sandy soils and gravel around granite outcrops, rocks & hills.