Wooly foxglove facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Wooly foxglove |
|
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Dasymalla
|
| Species: |
axillaris
|
Dasymalla axillaris, also known as native foxglove or woolly foxglove, is a beautiful flowering plant found only in Western Australia. It belongs to the mint family called Lamiaceae. This small, bushy plant is special because its branches, leaves, and even some flower parts are covered in soft, white, woolly hairs. Its flowers are a lovely shade of red and look like tubes, with the stamens (male parts) and style (female part) sticking out past the five petals.
Contents
What Does Native Foxglove Look Like?
Dasymalla axillaris is a spreading shrub that usually grows to about 0.3 m (1 ft) tall. Its branches, leaves, and sepals (the leaf-like parts that protect the flower bud) are covered in thick, white, branched hairs.
The leaves do not have stalks. They are shaped like an egg, with the narrower end at the base. Each leaf is about 2–4 cm (0.8–2 in) long and 1–1.5 cm (0.4–0.6 in) wide. Even with their woolly covering, the leaves look a bit wrinkled.
The Flowers of Woolly Foxglove
The flowers are very striking, ranging from deep red to a yellowish-scarlet color. They grow either alone or in small groups of up to five. You can find them in the axils of the leaves, which is the angle between a leaf and the stem. Each flower sits on a woolly stalk that is about 3–6 mm (0.1–0.2 in) long.
Woolly bracts (small, leaf-like structures) and bracteoles (even smaller bracts) surround each flower. The sepals are hairy on the outside but smooth (called glabrous) on the inside. They are about 14–18 mm (0.6–0.7 in) long and form a short tube at their base.
The five petals create a wide tube, about 18–25 mm (0.7–1 in) long. These petals have five roundish lobes (sections) at the end, which can be wavy or slightly toothed. The bottom lobe is a little larger than the others. The flower tube is mostly smooth inside, except for a ring of hairs near the ovary (where the seeds develop).
The stamens (male parts of the flower) are longer than the flower tube. The style (part of the female reproductive organ) is even longer than the stamens. This plant flowers from July to December. After flowering, it produces an egg-shaped fruit with two small bumps at the end, and the sepals remain attached to it.
How Native Foxglove Got Its Name
The plant Dasymalla axillaris was first officially described in 1839 by a scientist named Stephan Endlicher. He published his description in a book called Novarum Stirpium Decades.
Later, in 1917, another scientist, George Druce, moved this plant into a different group called Pityrodia. However, in 2011, a team of scientists – Barry Conn, Murray Henwood, and Nicola Streiber – brought back the original group, Dasymalla, and put this species back into it.
The second part of its scientific name, axillaris, is a Latin word. It means "of an axil," which refers to where the flowers grow – in the angle between the leaf and the stem.
Where Does Woolly Foxglove Live?
This special plant grows in deep sand. It is often found in areas that have been recently disturbed, like after a fire or land clearing. You can find it about 200 km (100 mi) south-east of Geraldton in Western Australia.
It lives in specific natural areas known as the Avon Wheatbelt, Swan Coastal Plain, and Yalgoo biogeographic regions. Interestingly, its numbers tend to drop quite quickly after the disturbance that helped it grow in the first place.
Why Is Native Foxglove Endangered?
Dasymalla axillaris is in serious trouble. It is listed as "critically endangered" under a law called the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. This means it is at a very high risk of becoming extinct (disappearing forever) in the wild.
The Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia) also lists it as "Threatened Flora (Declared Rare Flora — Extant)". This means it is rare or needs special protection to survive. The biggest dangers to this plant are activities like road and rail maintenance, which can destroy its habitat.
