{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Speciesbox |image = |image_caption = |genus = Guichenotia |species = alba |status_system = DECF |status = P3 |authority = Keighery<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Guichenotia alba'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/118431 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=17 May 2023}}</ref> |synonyms= }}
'''''Guichenotia alba''''' is a flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a slender, spreading shrub with lax, hairy young branches, leaves with the edges rolled under, and white flowers.
==Description== ''Guichenotia alba'' is a slender, spreading shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|10–50|cm}} high and {{cvt|30–80|cm}} wide with many stems at the base but few branches. Its young branches are densely covered with woolly, star-shaped hairs. The leaves are {{cvt|13–22|mm}} long, the edges rolled under, on a petiole {{cvt|0.5|mm}} long with stipules up to two-thirds the length of the leaves. The leaves are densely woolly-hairy when young, but later glabrous. The flowers are borne singly, in pairs or groups of three, on a peduncle {{cvt|3–6|mm}} long, each flower on a pedicel {{cvt|6–9|mm}} long, with narrowly egg-shaped bracts {{cvt|2–5|mm}} long and bracteoles {{cvt|2–3|mm}} long at the base. The flowers are bell-shaped with five divided, petal-like sepals {{cvt|11–13|mm}} long, that are white on the outside, pale green inside. There are five tiny white, scale-like petals and the stamens are red. Flowering occurs in July and August and the fruit is a capsule {{cvt|4–5|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=210–211}}</ref><ref name="Nuytsia">{{cite journal |last1=Keighery |first1=Gregory |title=A new species of ''Guichenotia'' (Sterculiaceae) from south western Australia. |journal=Nuytsia |date=1992 |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=320–321 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/224539#page/16/mode/1up |access-date=18 May 2023}}</ref><ref name=FB>{{FloraBase|name=''Guichenotia alba''|id=13233}}</ref>
==Taxonomy and naming== ''Guichenotia alba'' was first formally described in 1992 by Greg Keighery and the description was published in the journal ''Nuytsia'' from specimens he collected near Cataby in 1988.<ref name="Nuytsia" /><ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Guichenotia alba''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/552665|publisher=APNI|access-date=17 May 2023}}</ref> The specific epithet (''alba'') means "white".<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=314 |edition=3rd}}</ref>
==Distribution and habitat== This species of ''Guichenotia'' grows in heath, often in winter-wet areas, in a few places between Three Springs and Cataby in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.<ref name="Blake"/><ref name="Nuytsia"/><ref name="FB"/>
==Conservation status== ''Guichenotia alba'' is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,<ref name="FB" /> meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.<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=18 May 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q15371947}}
Category:Malvales of Australia Category:Rosids of Western Australia Category:Plants described in 2003 alba Category:Endemic flora of Southwest Australia