{{short description|Species of plant}} {{Speciesbox |name = |image = Philotheca deserti.jpg |image_caption = Near Beacon, Western Australia |status_system = |status = |genus = Philotheca |species = deserti |authority = (E.Pritzl.) Paul G.Wilson<ref name=APC>{{cite web|title=''Philotheca deserti''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/161980|publisher=Australian Plant Census|accessdate=1 August 2020}}</ref> |synonyms_ref =<ref name="APC" /> |synonyms = * ''Eriostemon deserti'' <small>E.Pritz. orth. var.</small> * ''Eriostemon desertii'' <small>E.Pritz.</small> * ''Eriostemon intermedius'' <small>Ewart nom. illeg.</small> * ''Phebalium deserti'' <small>Ewart & B.Rees orth. var.</small> * ''Phebalium desertii'' <small>(E.Pritz.) Ewart & B.Rees</small> }} '''''Philotheca deserti''''' is a species of flowering plant in the family Rutaceae and is endemic to inland Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with narrow spindle-shaped, glandular-warty leaves and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.
==Description== ''Philotheca deserti'' is a shrub that grows to a height of {{cvt|1–2|m}} with corky branchlets. The leaves are narrow spindle-shaped, glandular-warty, {{cvt|20–30|mm}} long and channelled on the upper surface. The flowers are usually borne singly, rarely in groups of two or three, in leaf axils, each flower on a pedicel {{cvt|0.5–5.5|mm}} long. There are five round sepals about {{cvt|1|mm}} long and five egg-shaped white petals about {{cvt|3|mm}} long. The ten stamens each are free from each other. Flowering occurs from April to June or in October and the fruit is about {{cvt|2.5|mm}} long with a short beak.<ref name="FoA">{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Paul G. |last2=Wilson |first2=Annette J.G. (ed.) |title=Flora of Australia (Volume 26) |date=2013 |publisher=Australian Biological Resources Study |location=Canberra |pages=375–376 |url=https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Philotheca%20deserti |accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref><ref name=FloraBase>{{FloraBase|name=''Philotheca deserti''|id=18384}}</ref>
==Taxonomy and naming== This philotheca was first formally described in 1904 by Ernst Georg Pritzel who gave it the name ''Eriostemon desertii'' and published the description in ''Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie'' from specimens he collected near Southern Cross.<ref name="E.Pritzl.">{{cite journal |last1=Pritzel |first1=Ernst Georg |last2=Diels |first2=Ludwig (ed.) |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae occidentalis. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Pflanzen Westaustraliens, ihrer Verbreitung und ihrer Lebensverhaltnisse. |journal=Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie |date=1904 |volume=35 |issue=3 |page=320 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/660#page/349/mode/1up |accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref><ref name=APNI1>{{cite web|title=''Eriostemon desertii''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/470480|publisher=APNI|accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref> In 1998, Paul Wilson changed the name to ''Philotheca deserti'' and described two subspecies in the journal ''Nuytsia''.<ref name=APNI>{{cite web|title=''Philotheca deserti''|url= https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/557392|publisher=APNI|accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref><ref name="Nuytsia">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Paul G. |title=A Taxonomic Review of the genera ''Eriostemon'' and ''Philotheca'' |journal=Nuytsia |date=1998 |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=248 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/226456#page/94/mode/1up |accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref> * ''Philotheca deserti'' subsp. ''brevifolia'' <small>Paul G.Wilson</small><ref name=APC1>{{cite web|title=''Philotheca deserti'' subsp. ''brevifolia''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/161982|publisher=Australian Plant Census|accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref> has leaves {{cvt|3–5|mm}} long;<ref name="Nuytsia" /> * ''Philotheca deserti'' <small>(E.Pritz.) Paul G.Wilson</small> subsp. ''deserti''<ref name=APC2>{{cite web|title=''Philotheca deserti'' subsp. ''deserti''|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/161981|publisher=Australian Plant Census|accessdate=2 August 2020}}</ref> has leaves {{cvt|20–30|mm}} long.<ref name="Nuytsia" />
==Distribution and habitat== ''Philotheca deserti'' grows on undulating plains and hills between Kalgoorlie, Menzies and Yalgoo in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie and Murchison biogeographic regions.<ref name="FoA" /><ref name="FloraBase" />
==Conservation status== This species is classified as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife,<ref name="FloraBase" /> but subspecies ''brevifolia'' is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife<ref name=FloraBase2>{{FloraBase|name=''Philotheca deserti'' subsp. ''brevifolia''|id=18386}}</ref> 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=2 August 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q18075764|from2=Q51056926}}
deserti Category:Flora of Western Australia Category:Sapindales of Australia Category:Plants described in 1904 Category:Taxa named by Ernst Pritzel