{{Short description|Species of shrub}} {{Speciesbox | name = | image = Androcalva microphylla.jpg | image_caption = | status = | status_system = | genus = Androcalva | species = microphylla | authority = (Benth.) C.F.Wilkins & Whitlock<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Androcalva microphylla'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/236032|website=Australian Plant Census |access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref> | synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> | synonyms = * ''Commerconia microphylla'' <small>F.Muell. orth. var.</small> * ''Commersonia microphylla'' <small>Benth.</small> * ''Restiaria microphylla'' <small>(Benth.) Kuntze</small> }}
'''''Androcalva microphylla''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an open, straggling shrub with egg-shaped to oblong leaves with a heart-shaped base, and clusters of 5 to 7 white and dark red flowers.
==Description== ''Androcalva microphylla'' is an open, straggling, low-growing shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|0.8–2|m}} high and {{cvt|1–3|m}} wide, its new growth covered with yellowish star-shaped hairs. The leaves are egg-shaped to oblong with a heart-shaped base, {{cvt|1–8|mm}} long and {{cvt|1–7|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|1–2|mm}} long with narrow stipules {{cvt|1–3|mm}} long at the base. The edges of the leaves have irregular, rounded lobes, the upper surface with impressed veins, the lower surface covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are arranged in clusters of 5 to 7 on a peduncle {{cvt|5–15|mm}} long, each flower {{cvt|5–10|mm}} in diameter, on a pedicel {{cvt|2–7|mm}} long, with shaggy-hairy bracts at the base. The flowers have 5 white, petal-like sepals with a dark red base, and 5 petals with a round ligule. There are usually 3 tiny staminodes between each pair of stamens. Flowering occurs from August to November, and the fruit is a more or less spherical capsule {{cvt|6–10|mm}} in diameter.<ref name="Blake">{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Trevor L. |title=Lantern bushes of Australia ; Thomasias & allied genera : a field and horticultural guide |date=2021 |publisher=Australian Plants Society, Keilor Plains Group |location=Victoria |isbn=9780646839301 |pages=130–131}}</ref>
==Taxonomy== This species was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham who gave it the name ''Commersonia microphylla'' in ''Flora Australiensis'', from specimens collected by James Drummond near the Murchison River.<ref name="APNI1">{{cite web |title=''Commersonia microphylla'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/488052 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref><ref name="Benth.">{{cite book |last1=Bentham |first1=George |title=Flora Australiensis |volume=1 |date=1863 |publisher=Lovell Reeve & Co. |location=London |page=244 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/3669#page/302/mode/1up |access-date=27 April 2023}}</ref> In 2011, Carolyn Wilkins and Barbara Whitlock transferred the species to ''Androcalva'' as ''A. microphylla'' in ''Australian Systematic Botany''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Androcalva microphylla''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/726923|publisher=APNI|access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref> The specific epithet (''microphylla'') means "small leaves".<ref name="Blake" />
==Distribution and habitat== ''Androcalva microphylla'' mostly grows in open shrubland between the Murchison River and Eurardy Station in the Geraldton Sandplains and Yalgoo bioregions of south-western Western Australia.<ref name="Blake" /><ref name=FB>{{FloraBase|name=''Androcalva microphylla''|id=40906}}</ref>
==Conservation status== ''Androcalva microphylla'' is listed as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,<ref name="FB" /> meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.<ref name=codes>{{cite web|title=Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna|url=https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/plants-animals/threatened-species/Listings/Conservation%20code%20definitions.pdf|publisher=Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife|accessdate=27 April 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q17579636}}
Category:Malvales of Australia Category:Flora of Western Australia Category:Plants described in 1863 microphylla Category:Taxa named by George Bentham