Verticordia centipeda facts for kids

Verticordia centipeda is a beautiful flowering plant that belongs to the myrtle family, called Myrtaceae. It grows only in the southwestern part of Western Australia, which means it's endemic to that area. This plant is a shrub with a single main stem that branches out a lot. It has small, crowded leaves and pretty greenish-pink flowers. These flowers have a shiny, silvery fringe and grow in spike-like groups at the ends of the branches. You can often find this plant in areas around Geraldton.

What Does Verticordia centipeda Look Like?

Verticordia centipeda is a shrub that usually grows to be about 0.2 m (0.7 ft) to 1.0 m (3 ft) tall. It can spread out from 20 cm (8 in) to 50 cm (20 in) wide. It has one main stem at its base that splits into many smaller branches.

Leaves of the Plant

The leaves of this plant are small, shaped like an egg or an oval. They are about 1.5 mm (0.06 in) to 2.5 mm (0.1 in) long and about 1 mm (0.04 in) wide. The leaves are slightly curved like a dish and have many tiny hairs along their edges.

Flowers of the Plant

The flowers of Verticordia centipeda have a light, pleasant smell. They grow in groups that look like spikes, with each flower on a short stalk about 2.0 mm (0.08 in) to 2.5 mm (0.1 in) long.

The base of the flower, called the floral cup, is shaped like a top. It is about 1.5 mm (0.06 in) to 2.0 mm (0.08 in) long and has no hairs (it's glabrous). It also has five small ribs and tiny green parts.

The sepals, which are like small leaves protecting the flower, are greenish-pink. They are about 3.0 mm (0.12 in) to 3.5 mm (0.14 in) long. They have five or six main parts with shiny, silvery fringes. The petals are pink and about 3.5 mm (0.1 in) long, with a fringe about 1.0 mm (0.04 in) long.

The style, which is part of the flower's reproductive system, is bent. It is about 4 mm (0.2 in) long and has tiny hairs about 0.4 mm (0.02 in) long. This plant usually flowers from October to December.

How Verticordia centipeda Got Its Name

Discovery and Naming

The plant Verticordia centipeda was officially described for the first time in 1991. This was done by a scientist named Alex George. He published his description in a scientific journal called Nuytsia. He based his description on plants he and Elizabeth George collected near Eneabba.

The second part of its name, centipeda, comes from the word "centipede." This is because the hairy edges of its leaves look a bit like the many legs of a centipede.

Plant Family and Group

Alex George placed this species into a specific group within the Verticordia genus. It belongs to the subgenus Eperephes and the section Verticordella.

Where Verticordia centipeda Grows

This type of verticordia plant likes to grow in sandy soil. Sometimes, this sand is found over gravel, clay, or loam. It often grows alongside other verticordia plants in areas with heath and shrubland. You can find it in places between Northampton, Yuna, Eneabba, and Coorow. These areas are part of the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains biogeographic regions in Western Australia.

Protecting Verticordia centipeda

The Government of Western Australia's Department of Parks and Wildlife has classified Verticordia centipeda as "not threatened." This means that there are enough of these plants in the wild, and they are not currently in danger of disappearing.

Growing Verticordia centipeda

When this plant is not flowering, it might not look very special. However, when it blooms, it becomes very attractive and has a sweet smell. People have tried to grow this plant from cuttings, which means taking a piece of the plant and growing a new one from it. But it can be tricky to get them to grow well. Sometimes, they can get a condition called chlorosis, which makes their leaves turn yellow because they don't have enough nutrients.