Guichenotia sarotes

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Speciesbox |image = Guichenotia sarotes.png |image_caption = Near Dandaragan |genus = Guichenotia |species = sarotes |authority = Benth.<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Guichenotia sarotes'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/56249 |publisher=Australian Plant Census |access-date=13 January 2023}}</ref> |synonyms_ref = <ref name="APC" /> |synonyms = * ''Guichenotia sarotes subsp. immixta'' Paczk. & A.R.Chapm. nom. inval. * ''Sarotes ledifolia'' Lindl. * ''Sarotes ledifolia'' var. ''latifolia'' Steetz * ''Sarotes ledifolia'' Lindl. var. ''ledifolia'' * ''Thomasia pumila'' Steud. }}

'''''Guichenotia sarotes''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family Malvaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a spindly, low-growing shrub with densely hairy new growth, hairy, greyish, linear leaves and pink to purple flowers arranged in loose groups of two to six.

==Description== ''Guichenotia sarotes'' is a spindly, low-growing shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|0.3–1|m}} high and {{cvt|0.3–0.6|mm}} wide, its new growth densely covered with star-shaped hairs. Its leaves are greyish, linear to lance-shaped, {{cvt|7–30|mm}} long, {{cvt|2–5|mm}} wide and sessile with narrowly egg-shaped stipules {{cvt|6–14|mm}} long at the base of the leaves. The edges of the leaves are rolled under and both surfaces are covered with white, star-shaped hairs. The flowers are blue-mauve, pink, or white and arranged in cymes of two to six on a peduncle {{cvt|10–50|mm}} long, each flower on a pedicel {{cvt|3–8|mm}} long with an egg-shaped bracteole at the base. The five petal-like sepals are {{cvt|10–20|mm}} long and hairy, and there are tiny, dark red petals but no staminodes. Flowering occurs from July to November.<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=238–239}}</ref><ref name=FB>{{FloraBase|name=''Guichenotia sarotes'' |id= 5014}}</ref>

==Taxonomy and naming== ''Guichenotia sarotes'' was first formally described in 1863 by George Bentham and the description was published in ''Flora Australiensis''.<ref name="APNI">{{cite web |title=''Guichenotia sarotes'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/458749 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=16 January 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=258 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/3669#page/316/mode/1up |access-date=31 May 2023}}</ref> The specific epithet (''sarotes'') means "broom-like".<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=301 |edition=3rd}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat== This guichenotia is an undershrub that grows in a variety of soils, including sand, clay, gravel, on sloping sand plains, low hills, ridges and near salt lakes. It is found between the Hutt River, Lake King and Newdegate on the eastern side of the Darling Range in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.<ref name="Blake" /><ref name="FB" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Malvales of Australia Category:Rosids of Western Australia Category:Plants described in 1863 sarotes Category:Taxa named by George Bentham Category:Endemic flora of Southwest Australia