Philotheca fitzgeraldii facts for kids

Philotheca fitzgeraldii is a beautiful flowering plant. It belongs to the Rutaceae family, which includes citrus fruits. This plant is special because it only grows naturally in the southern part of Western Australia. It's a shrub that stands upright, or sometimes spreads out. Its leaves are shaped like cylinders and have tiny bumps called glands. It produces pretty white flowers that grow alone, either where leaves meet the stem or at the very tips of its branches.

What Does Philotheca fitzgeraldii Look Like?

Philotheca fitzgeraldii is a shrub that can grow from 30 cm (12 in) to 60 cm (24 in) tall. Its small branches have tiny hairs on them.

Leaves and Flowers

The leaves of this plant are mostly round, like small cylinders. They have tiny bumps on them that look like warts, which are actually special glands. These leaves are usually 35 mm (1.4 in) to 50 mm (2.0 in) long and about 1 mm (0.039 in) wide. They also have a small groove on their top surface.

The white flowers grow one by one. You can find them where a leaf joins the stem, or at the very end of a branch. Each flower sits on a tiny stalk, called a pedicel, which is only 1 mm (0.039 in) to 2 mm (0.079 in) long.

Flower Parts

Each flower has five tough, half-circle shaped sepals, which are like small leaves that protect the bud. These are about 1 mm (0.039 in) long. It also has five white, egg-shaped petals, which are the pretty parts of the flower, about 4 mm (0.16 in) long. Inside the flower, there are ten stamens, which are the parts that produce pollen. These stamens are smooth and do not have hairs.

This plant usually flowers from June to October. After flowering, it produces a fruit that is about 3.5 mm (0.14 in) long and has a small pointed tip, like a beak.

How Philotheca fitzgeraldii Got Its Name

This plant was first officially described in 1904 by a person named Cecil Andrews. He called it Eriostemon fitzgeraldii. He wrote about it in a science journal called Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society. Cecil Andrews found the first samples of this plant on sandy plains north of Esperance in 1903.

Later, in 1998, another scientist named Paul Wilson decided to change its name to Philotheca fitzgeraldii. He published this new name in a journal called Nuytsia. This process of naming and classifying plants is called Taxonomy.

Where Philotheca fitzgeraldii Lives

Philotheca fitzgeraldii grows in specific types of areas in Western Australia. You can find it in areas called heathlands and woodlands. These are places with low-growing shrubs and some trees.

It grows in the region between Norseman and Caiguna. This area includes parts of the Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, and Mallee biogeographic regions. These regions are special areas defined by their unique plants and animals.

Is Philotheca fitzgeraldii Safe?

The Western Australian Government's Department of Parks and Wildlife keeps track of how many of these plants are in the wild. They have classified Philotheca fitzgeraldii as "not threatened." This means there are enough of these plants, and they are not currently in danger of disappearing.