Androcalva pulchella

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Speciesbox |image = Androcalva pulchella - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg |taxon = Androcalva pulchella |authority = (Turcz.) C.F.Wilkins & Whitlock<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Androcalva pulchella'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/236040|website=Australian Plant Census |access-date=13 March 2023}}</ref> |synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> |synonyms = * ''Commerconia pulchella'' F.Muell. orth. var. * ''Commersonia pulchella'' Turcz. * ''Restiaria pulchella'' (Turcz.) Kuntze * ''Rulingia pulchella'' (Turcz.) Turcz. }}

'''''Androcalva pulchella''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small shrub with egg-shaped, elliptic or oblong leaves, the edges wavy, lobed or toothed, and clusters of two to seven white and deep pink flowers.

==Description== ''Androcalva pulchella'' is a shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|0.5–1.5|m}} high and {{cvt|0.5–1|m}} wide, its young branches covered with rust-coloured, star-shaped and glandular hairs. Its leaves are egg-shaped, elliptic or oblong, {{cvt|1-22|mm}} long and {{cvt|1–9|mm}} wide on a petiole about {{cvt|4|mm}} long with narrowly triangular stipules {{cvt|1–6|mm}} long at the base. The edges of the leaves are wavy with lobes or coarse teeth. The flowers are arranged in cymes of two to seven on a peduncle {{cvt|3–12|mm}} long, each flower on a pedicel {{cvt|3–14|mm}} long, with bracts {{cvt|1–5|mm}} long at the base. The flowers are about {{cvt|15|mm}} in diameter with 5 white, petal-like sepals with and 5 small white, cup-shaped petals with a deep pink base. There are branched staminodes between each pair of stamens. Flowering occurs from July to November and the fruit is a spherical capsule {{cvt|6–10|mm}} in diameter and covered with bristles and star-shaped hairs.<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=144–145}}</ref>

==Taxonomy== This species was first formally described in 1846 by Nikolai Turczaninow who gave it the name as ''Commersonia pulchella'' in the ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'', from specimens collected by James Drummond.<ref name="APNI1">{{cite web |title=''Commersonia pulchella'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/488101 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref><ref name="BHL">{{cite journal |last1=Turczaninow |first1=Nicolai Stepanovitch |title=''Commersonia pulchella'' |journal=Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou |date=1846 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=502–503 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/151097#page/1078/mode/1up |access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref> In 2011, Carolyn Wilkins and Barbara Whitlock transferred the species to ''Androcalva'' as ''A. pulchella'' in ''Australian Systematic Botany''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Androcalva pulchella''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/726964|publisher=APNI|access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref> The specific epithet (''pulchella'') means "beautiful and small".<ref name="Blake" /><ref name="Sharr">{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=286 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat== ''Androcalva pulchella'' grows in heath and mallee between Green Head, Perth and inland to Wongan Hills in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Jarrah Forest bioregions of south-western Western Australia.<ref name="Blake" /><ref name=FB>{{FloraBase|name=''Androcalva pulchella''|id=40908}}</ref>

==Conservation status== ''Androcalva pulchella'' is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.<ref name="FB" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Malvales of Australia pulchella Category:Flora of Western Australia Category:Plants described in 1846 Category:Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow