Crowea angustifolia


Crowea angustifolia is a flowering plant in the family Rutaceae, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub growing to high by in diameter with white or pink flowers in spring.

Description

Crowea angustifolia is a variable shrub growing to a height of high, either erect or spreading and diffuse. The leaves are thin,, linear to broad elliptic, or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base. They are long and less than wide. The flowers usually appear singly in the s of the leaves on a pedicel long. There are between two and four bracteoles at the base of the flower and five separate sepals which are papery, more or less round and about long. There are five white or pink petals which are egg-shaped, thin and about long. The ten stamens and style are about long. Flowering occurs from September to December.

Taxonomy

Crowea angustifolia was first formally described by James Edward Smith in 1808 from a specimen collected by "Mr Menzies near King George's Sound".
The specific epithet is derived from the Latin words, angustus meaning "narrow" and folium meaning "leaf".
Two varieties are recognised:
In his original paper describing the two varieties, Paul Wilson named them var. angustifolia and var. dentata, but later corrected the name of the second variety to var. platyphylla.

Distribution and habitat

The species is endemic to the extreme south western corner of Western Australia, in the Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren biogeographic regions growing on sandy soils, gravel, granite, ridge tops, slopes and outcrops.