Verticordia nitens
Encyclopedia
Verticordia nitens is an upright shrub, 0.45 to 1.8 metres tall, with glistening and perfumed flower heads that appear between October and February in Southwest Australia
. The small compact and erect flowers have been noted for their beauty since discovery by Europeans.
Many common names, such as Christmas Morrison, were applied to this species after the professional plant collector William Morrison
.
. The leaves are needle-like, but soft, and are uniform as either a stem or floral leaf. The branching arrangement is described as corymbose, whereby the terminus of the lower branches extend to the level of the upper ones; the habit is notably slender in this species. Combined with the 'corymb-like' arrangement of the compounded single flowers, the presentation of the numerous flowers is flattened to only slightly rounded. The bunched mass of flowers are sweet in scent and vary in colour from bright glistening heads whose petals are golden, to orange, to a lemon yellow colour, in the taller (3 metre) plants of the Gingin area. The style in this species of Verticordia unfurls to its full length after the flower bud opens, fern-like, rather than being folded or increasing its length afterward.
, and as far south as Yarloop, not reaching Harvey
. The urban sprawl around the states capital has created disjunct populations to its north and south.
The species grows in deep white sand, or brown or grey sand over this, and is often associated with low banksia woodlands north of Perth to Moore River. The flowering period coincides with Nuytsia floribunda, the Western Australian Christmas Tree, also found on the Swan Coastal Plain
; their conspicuous orange display is well known in the region.
The plant has often been situated in the path of urban development. This encroachment on the plant's habitat is likely to place the species under duress if continued. An appearance is likely in the unmanaged medians and verges of urban areas, but clearing and altered ecology restrict their former range. Populations once found on river reserves, such as one at Success Hill near Bassendean
, have since disappeared.
, of family Colletidae
), which feeds on nectar, pollen, and the oil retained on the anthers of this species and V. aurea.
The species is not considered to be threatened by extinction as it is common and populations are large. Naturally occurring plants have been heavily targeted for the cut flower industry, intermittent reports from 1993 record trends upward of 250,000 stems per annum, but the plant recovers well after harvesting. These later figures show a reduction after closer scrutiny of harvests, though much was obtained from private land, leading to increased sustainability when combined with greater care by pickers. V. nitens records in the early 1980s were 83 000 bunches, the majority of the 2 000,000 verticordia stems in an annual harvest that sometimes permanently damaged the shrubs. Collection from Crown Land
has remained permissible, with industry self-regulating its harvesters, but this may destroy local populations on reserves where this has occurred; the reduction in seeds in the soil can expose these populations to an inability to recover from bushfire in time to sustain its pollinator.
The shrub is listed for it susceptibility to Phytophthora cinnamomi
, and as an 'indicator species' it is used to detect its presence in banksia woodland, though without observations of its ability to recover.
The plant was regarded as highly desirable by gardeners in England. The spectacular display, "strikingly beautiful", was expected to be marketable, yet it has presented difficulties in its propagation. It was introduced to English gardens in 1840, but was not known to have flowered until 1861. The introduction to the eastern states of Australia has met with some success, due to the refining of the technique of propagation and the application of early pruning. Heavy pruning was first suggested by James Drummond
, an early collector and promoter of the regions flora.
The species was mentioned in the early survey, A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony
(Edwards's Botanical Register, 1837), which was referred to an 1861 notice in Curtis's Botanical Magazine
by W J Hooker
, quoting Lindley,
metallic lustre, form masses of golden stars some feet in diameter.' Ever since, it has been the desire of nurserymen and others engaged in horticulture, to import this lovely plant; …"
In these, they note the failure of early attempts to propagate the species in England
, the seeds sent from the Swan River Colony
mostly failed to germinate, or the plant did not reach maturity. The Veitch Nurseries
successfully raised a plant, providing the flowering specimen in August for the illustration by Walter Fitch
, but a note in Hortus Veitchii (1906) records the disappointing results and as "apparently lost to British gardens". Whether this species was amongst those grown from seeds supplied to Europe
in the nineteenth century is lacking evidence and detail.
Later cultivation techniques made use of cuttings from lower parts of the plant, propagated from soft to semi-hardened wood, to produce longer living specimens. Cuttings taken between autumn to spring strike readily. Seedlings produced in cultivated gardens are rare, due to the absence of its pollinator. The need for study and development of cultivation techniques was identified by Alf Gray in 1966, and suggested this was not beyond regular commercial interests. Early attempts showed poor development in root structure, and susceptibility to fungal diseases present barriers to development as a crop or garden plant. The species has been less successful as an introduction to the eastern states, suffering fungal conditions after rains and remains vulnerable to root rotting—attributed to Phytophthora
—in dryer conditions that spare other plants. All members of V. sect. Chrysorhoe are noted for the vulnerability to infection of the rapid growth of soft wood, but this is especially destructive to V. nitens in cultivaton. Controls include pruning below sites of infestation, which often appear near the growing tip, results in bushier and more resilient plants for gardens, and study groups have trialled the removal of flowers after downpours. White oil controls used on other verticordia are damaging to V. nitens. Techniques for cultivation for the cut flower industry, replacing the natural harvest, require further development for commercial viability.
The name of early collector, William Morrison
from Kew, was attached to V. nitens, and "Morrison flower" was extended to the common name for many similar and well known species. Morrison was asked by Seymour Meares, the son of Richard Goldsmith Meares
, as the botanist Drummond was unavailable to him. Meares request from James Mangles was to deliver material for the cultivation of "Chrysorhoe nitens" in England, and unable to recall this name he applied that of the collector as a label. Until this fact was noticed by the historian Rica Erickson
, the common name was presumed to commemorate Alexander Morrison
, the government botanist at the colony.
Besides the 1861 illustration by Fitch, V. nitens was included in Constance Miller's collection of watercolours, The Western Australian Floral Birthday Book 1912, Emily Pelloe
painted a portrait of the species in 1925, and full colour photograph was printed in Gardner's West Australian Wildflowers, 1935, the earliest impression of this work. Besides the illustration given to every taxon's description in Elizabeth George's book on the genus by Margaret Pieroni
, this species was selected with the 200 plants she painted for Discovering Wildflowers of Western Australia in 1983.
Verticordia nitens is commonly dried or preserved, with uses in a variety of arts and crafts
, their exquisite arrangement of flowers and leaves being set in resin, as topiary trees, or decoration of cake. Flowering stems are readily available and easily preserved as pressed specimens, and these also appear in decorative applications. In addition to widespread use in flower arranging, they are used locally as a "Western Australian Christmas" decoration
. Cuttings of the flowers retain colour and perfume, for up to 12 months, and this is one of few Verticordia species that can be hung and dried immediately, without a period in water. Another technique applied to V. nitens involves steeping cuttings in glycerine and hot water before drying, this affects colour but avoids flowers and leaves becoming brittle. They probably comprise the greatest part of Verticordia exported by the state's cut flower industry.
genus, amongst the earliest of accepted descriptions. John Lindley
had previously described the species as Chrysorhoë nitens, its placement within Verticordia was attributed to publication by Schauer
in 1841. However, Endlicher's description as Verticordia nitida in 1838 is recognised as an orthographic
variant of the current combination. Lindley's generic epithet of this description—presumably from Greek for 'golden' and 'stream'—was revived when Alex George
assigned the species to Verticordia subgenus Chrysoma
as the section Chrysorhoe.
The staminodes of this species, infertile and modified reproductive organs, are notably shorter than others in the section Chrysorhoe.
The two other species in this section can be differentiated from the usually bright orange display of Verticordia nitens by the larger, more yellow to golden petals of the flowers, with broad staminodes, found on Verticordia aurea
; and the early flowering, shorter staminodes and style, and lemon colour, of Verticordia patens
.
George's arrangement within the genus can be summarised as,
(101 species) V. subg. Chrysoma
(21 spp.) V. sect. Chrysoma
V. sect. Jugata V. sect. Unguiculata V. sect. Sigalantha
(3 spp.)
V. nitens V. aurea
V. sect. Cooloomia
V. sect. Synandra
Southwest Australia
Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...
. The small compact and erect flowers have been noted for their beauty since discovery by Europeans.
Many common names, such as Christmas Morrison, were applied to this species after the professional plant collector William Morrison
William Morrison (gardener)
William Morrison was a Scottish-born gardener and plant collector employed by Kew between 1824 to 1839.Morrison made collections of botanical specimens in Trinidad, returning them to England for study at Kew Gardens...
.
Description
The species will sometimes reach heights of 3 metres, though usually between 0.45 and 1.8 metres, and can branch out to 0.9 metres from upper parts of a solitary basal stem. V. nitens does not possess a lignotuberLignotuber
A lignotuber is a starchy swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem by fire. The crown contains buds from which new stems may sprout, and a sufficient store of nutrients to support a period of growth in the absence of...
. The leaves are needle-like, but soft, and are uniform as either a stem or floral leaf. The branching arrangement is described as corymbose, whereby the terminus of the lower branches extend to the level of the upper ones; the habit is notably slender in this species. Combined with the 'corymb-like' arrangement of the compounded single flowers, the presentation of the numerous flowers is flattened to only slightly rounded. The bunched mass of flowers are sweet in scent and vary in colour from bright glistening heads whose petals are golden, to orange, to a lemon yellow colour, in the taller (3 metre) plants of the Gingin area. The style in this species of Verticordia unfurls to its full length after the flower bud opens, fern-like, rather than being folded or increasing its length afterward.
Distribution
Verticordia nitens is restricted to the Swan Coastal Plain, its range extends as far north as Moore RiverMoore River
Moore River in Western Australia can refer to a number of places:*Moore River - the river itself*Moore River National Park - national park that the river runs through...
, and as far south as Yarloop, not reaching Harvey
Harvey, Western Australia
Harvey is a town located in the South West of Western Australia along the South Western Highway, 140 km south of Perth, between Pinjarra and Bunbury...
. The urban sprawl around the states capital has created disjunct populations to its north and south.
The species grows in deep white sand, or brown or grey sand over this, and is often associated with low banksia woodlands north of Perth to Moore River. The flowering period coincides with Nuytsia floribunda, the Western Australian Christmas Tree, also found on the Swan Coastal Plain
Swan Coastal Plain
The Swan Coastal Plain in Western Australia is the geographic feature which contains the Swan River as it travels west to the Indian Ocean. The coastal plain continues well beyond the boundaries of the Swan River and its tributaries, as a geological and biological zone, one of Western Australia's...
; their conspicuous orange display is well known in the region.
The plant has often been situated in the path of urban development. This encroachment on the plant's habitat is likely to place the species under duress if continued. An appearance is likely in the unmanaged medians and verges of urban areas, but clearing and altered ecology restrict their former range. Populations once found on river reserves, such as one at Success Hill near Bassendean
Bassendean, Western Australia
Bassendean is a northeastern suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its Local Government Area is the Town of Bassendean.Bassendean is home to the Western Australian Rail Transport Museum. The display has a collection of Steam and Diesel Locomotives, most of these have been restored to operating...
, have since disappeared.
Ecology
V. nitens has been studied for its role as an example of a pollination by an oligolectic species of bee, a relationship described in 1992. The flowers are not attractive to typical insect pollinators, except for a single species of solitary bee Euryglossa morrisoni (or EuhesmaEuhesma
Euhesma is a genus within the bee family Colletidae found in Australia. There are around 46 species with maybe 20 more yet to be described. The group lacks strong unifying features and maybe further split in the future. The type species is Euhesma wahlenbergiae....
, of family Colletidae
Colletidae
Colletidae is a family of bees, and are often referred to collectively as plasterer bees or polyester bees, due to the method of smoothing the walls of their nest cells with secretions applied with their mouthparts; these secretions dry into a cellophane-like lining...
), which feeds on nectar, pollen, and the oil retained on the anthers of this species and V. aurea.
The species is not considered to be threatened by extinction as it is common and populations are large. Naturally occurring plants have been heavily targeted for the cut flower industry, intermittent reports from 1993 record trends upward of 250,000 stems per annum, but the plant recovers well after harvesting. These later figures show a reduction after closer scrutiny of harvests, though much was obtained from private land, leading to increased sustainability when combined with greater care by pickers. V. nitens records in the early 1980s were 83 000 bunches, the majority of the 2 000,000 verticordia stems in an annual harvest that sometimes permanently damaged the shrubs. Collection from Crown Land
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
has remained permissible, with industry self-regulating its harvesters, but this may destroy local populations on reserves where this has occurred; the reduction in seeds in the soil can expose these populations to an inability to recover from bushfire in time to sustain its pollinator.
The shrub is listed for it susceptibility to Phytophthora cinnamomi
Phytophthora cinnamomi
Phytophthora cinnamomi is a soil-borne water mould that produces an infection which causes a condition in plants called root rot or dieback. The plant pathogen is one of the world's most invasive species and is present in over 70 countries from around the world.- Life cycle and effects on plants :P...
, and as an 'indicator species' it is used to detect its presence in banksia woodland, though without observations of its ability to recover.
Cultivation
James Drummond (botanist)
James Drummond was a botanist and naturalist who was an early settler in Western Australia.-Early life:...
, an early collector and promoter of the regions flora.
The species was mentioned in the early survey, A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony
A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony
A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony, also known by its standard botanical abbreviation Sketch Veg. Swan R., is an 1839 article by John Lindley on the flora of the Swan River Colony...
(Edwards's Botanical Register, 1837), which was referred to an 1861 notice in Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Curtis's Botanical Magazine
The Botanical Magazine; or Flower-Garden Displayed, is an illustrated publication which began in 1787. The longest running botanical magazine, it is widely referred to by the subsequent name Curtis's Botanical Magazine....
by W J Hooker
William Jackson Hooker
Sir William Jackson Hooker, FRS was an English systematic botanist and organiser. He held the post of Regius Professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and was the first Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. He enjoyed the friendship and support of Sir Joseph Banks for his exploring,...
, quoting Lindley,
"'the magnificentChrysorrhoë nitens, whose yellow flowers, of
metallic lustre, form masses of golden stars some feet in diameter.' Ever since, it has been the desire of nurserymen and others engaged in horticulture, to import this lovely plant; …"
In these, they note the failure of early attempts to propagate the species in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the seeds sent from the Swan River Colony
Swan River Colony
The Swan River Colony was a British settlement established in 1829 on the Swan River, in Western Australia. The name was a pars pro toto for Western Australia. In 1832, the colony was officially renamed Western Australia, when the colony's founding Lieutenant-Governor, Captain James Stirling,...
mostly failed to germinate, or the plant did not reach maturity. The Veitch Nurseries
Veitch Nurseries
The Veitch Nurseries were the largest group of family-run plant nurseries in Europe during the 19th century. Started by John Veitch sometime before 1808, the original nursery grew substantially over several decades and was eventually split into two separate businesses - based at Chelsea and...
successfully raised a plant, providing the flowering specimen in August for the illustration by Walter Fitch
Walter Hood Fitch
Walter Hood Fitch was a botanical illustrator, born in Glasgow, Scotland, who executed some 10,000 drawings for various publications...
, but a note in Hortus Veitchii (1906) records the disappointing results and as "apparently lost to British gardens". Whether this species was amongst those grown from seeds supplied to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the nineteenth century is lacking evidence and detail.
Later cultivation techniques made use of cuttings from lower parts of the plant, propagated from soft to semi-hardened wood, to produce longer living specimens. Cuttings taken between autumn to spring strike readily. Seedlings produced in cultivated gardens are rare, due to the absence of its pollinator. The need for study and development of cultivation techniques was identified by Alf Gray in 1966, and suggested this was not beyond regular commercial interests. Early attempts showed poor development in root structure, and susceptibility to fungal diseases present barriers to development as a crop or garden plant. The species has been less successful as an introduction to the eastern states, suffering fungal conditions after rains and remains vulnerable to root rotting—attributed to Phytophthora
Phytophthora
Phytophthora is a genus of plant-damaging Oomycetes , whose member species are capable of causing enormous economic losses on crops worldwide, as well as environmental damage in natural ecosystems. The genus was first described by Heinrich Anton de Bary in 1875...
—in dryer conditions that spare other plants. All members of V. sect. Chrysorhoe are noted for the vulnerability to infection of the rapid growth of soft wood, but this is especially destructive to V. nitens in cultivaton. Controls include pruning below sites of infestation, which often appear near the growing tip, results in bushier and more resilient plants for gardens, and study groups have trialled the removal of flowers after downpours. White oil controls used on other verticordia are damaging to V. nitens. Techniques for cultivation for the cut flower industry, replacing the natural harvest, require further development for commercial viability.
Cultural use
The plant has traditional names Kodjeningara and Kotyeningara, and common names such as Glistening Verticordia or those deriving from Morrison—later extended to similar species—these include Morrison Featherflower, Morrison-flower, and Orange or Yellow Morrison.The name of early collector, William Morrison
William Morrison (gardener)
William Morrison was a Scottish-born gardener and plant collector employed by Kew between 1824 to 1839.Morrison made collections of botanical specimens in Trinidad, returning them to England for study at Kew Gardens...
from Kew, was attached to V. nitens, and "Morrison flower" was extended to the common name for many similar and well known species. Morrison was asked by Seymour Meares, the son of Richard Goldsmith Meares
Richard Goldsmith Meares
Richard Goldsmith Meares was an early landholder and public official at the Swan River Colony in Western Australia.-Early life:Richard, born April 1780, was the son of William Meares of Killinboy, County Westmeath, and Elizabeth Goldsmith; his family's background was Anglo-Irish, his father's...
, as the botanist Drummond was unavailable to him. Meares request from James Mangles was to deliver material for the cultivation of "Chrysorhoe nitens" in England, and unable to recall this name he applied that of the collector as a label. Until this fact was noticed by the historian Rica Erickson
Rica Erickson
Frederica Lucy "Rica" Erickson AM, née Sandilands, was an Australian naturalist, botanical artist, historian, author and teacher. Without any formal scientific training, she wrote extensively on botany and birds, as well as genealogy and general history...
, the common name was presumed to commemorate Alexander Morrison
Alexander Morrison (botanist)
Alexander Morrison was the first Government Botanist of Western Australia.Born in Western Dalmeny, Scotland, he began a medicine degree at Edinburgh, but suffered from ill health, prompting him to break his studies and visit Australia. He spent two years in Melbourne before returning to Edinburgh...
, the government botanist at the colony.
Besides the 1861 illustration by Fitch, V. nitens was included in Constance Miller's collection of watercolours, The Western Australian Floral Birthday Book 1912, Emily Pelloe
Emily Pelloe
Emily Harriet Pelloe was a botanical illustrator, and author of books, of the flowering plants of Western Australia...
painted a portrait of the species in 1925, and full colour photograph was printed in Gardner's West Australian Wildflowers, 1935, the earliest impression of this work. Besides the illustration given to every taxon's description in Elizabeth George's book on the genus by Margaret Pieroni
Margaret Pieroni
Margaret Pieroni is a Western Australian botanical artist and botanist who has authored, co-authored and/or illustrated numerous books on Australian botany, including Brush with Gondwana: Botanical Artists Group of Western Australia , The Dryandras , Verticordia: the turner of hearts , Discovering...
, this species was selected with the 200 plants she painted for Discovering Wildflowers of Western Australia in 1983.
Verticordia nitens is commonly dried or preserved, with uses in a variety of arts and crafts
Arts and crafts
Arts and crafts comprise a whole host of activities and hobbies that are related to making things with one's hands and skill. These can be sub-divided into handicrafts or "traditional crafts" and "the rest"...
, their exquisite arrangement of flowers and leaves being set in resin, as topiary trees, or decoration of cake. Flowering stems are readily available and easily preserved as pressed specimens, and these also appear in decorative applications. In addition to widespread use in flower arranging, they are used locally as a "Western Australian Christmas" decoration
Christmas decoration
A Christmas decoration is any of several types of decorations used at Christmastime. The traditional colours of Christmas are pine green , snow white, and heart red. Blue and white are often used to represent winter, or sometimes Hanukkah, which occurs around the same time. Gold and silver are...
. Cuttings of the flowers retain colour and perfume, for up to 12 months, and this is one of few Verticordia species that can be hung and dried immediately, without a period in water. Another technique applied to V. nitens involves steeping cuttings in glycerine and hot water before drying, this affects colour but avoids flowers and leaves becoming brittle. They probably comprise the greatest part of Verticordia exported by the state's cut flower industry.
Taxonomy
The type specimen for this species was first collected in the 1830s somewhere around the Swan River, Western Australia. It was described by Endlicher in 1838 as a member of the VerticordiaVerticordia
Verticordia, a genus of the Myrtaceae family, are woody shrubs with small and exquisite flowers. They are mostly found in Southwest Australia, with several outlier species in northern regions. A revision of the genus in 1991 produced a classification within Verticordia of 3 subgenera, 24 sections,...
genus, amongst the earliest of accepted descriptions. John Lindley
John Lindley
John Lindley FRS was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist.-Early years:Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley was a nurseryman and pomologist and ran a commercial nursery garden...
had previously described the species as Chrysorhoë nitens, its placement within Verticordia was attributed to publication by Schauer
Johannes Conrad Schauer
Johannes Conrad Schauer was a botanist interested in Spermatophytes. He was a professor of botany at the University of Greifswald. Amongst his published works are descriptions of the myrtles of Western Australia.-References:...
in 1841. However, Endlicher's description as Verticordia nitida in 1838 is recognised as an orthographic
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
variant of the current combination. Lindley's generic epithet of this description—presumably from Greek for 'golden' and 'stream'—was revived when Alex George
Alex George
Alexander Segger George is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera Banksia and Dryandra...
assigned the species to Verticordia subgenus Chrysoma
Verticordia subg. Chrysoma
Verticordia subg. Chrysoma is a botanical name for a grouping of similar plant species in the genus Verticordia.This subgenus contains seven sections, classifying twenty one species, of Alex George's infrageneric arrangement...
as the section Chrysorhoe.
The staminodes of this species, infertile and modified reproductive organs, are notably shorter than others in the section Chrysorhoe.
The two other species in this section can be differentiated from the usually bright orange display of Verticordia nitens by the larger, more yellow to golden petals of the flowers, with broad staminodes, found on Verticordia aurea
Verticordia aurea
Verticordia aurea is a woody shrub found in Western Australia, referred to by the common name Buttercups. The profusion of flowers are a rich yellow or orange, presented on the corymbosely formed upper branches of the shrub, at a height between 0.6 and 1.5 metres...
; and the early flowering, shorter staminodes and style, and lemon colour, of Verticordia patens
Verticordia patens
Verticordia patens is a slender woody shrub found in Western Australia. It is between 200 - 1300 mm tall and has yellow and green flowers, held out in rounded bunches. It was first described in The Western Australian Naturalist by Alexander George, from a collection he made at Moore River,...
.
George's arrangement within the genus can be summarised as,
Verticordia
Verticordia, a genus of the Myrtaceae family, are woody shrubs with small and exquisite flowers. They are mostly found in Southwest Australia, with several outlier species in northern regions. A revision of the genus in 1991 produced a classification within Verticordia of 3 subgenera, 24 sections,...
(101 species) V. subg. Chrysoma
Verticordia subg. Chrysoma
Verticordia subg. Chrysoma is a botanical name for a grouping of similar plant species in the genus Verticordia.This subgenus contains seven sections, classifying twenty one species, of Alex George's infrageneric arrangement...
(21 spp.) V. sect. Chrysoma
Verticordia sect. Chrysoma
Verticordia sect. Chrysoma is a section of Verticordia that describes a group of four shrub species. The section is contained by a subgenus, Verticordia subg. Chrysoma, in Alex George's 1991 revision of the genus. The type species for this section is Verticordia acerosa.The species described as...
V. sect. Jugata V. sect. Unguiculata V. sect. Sigalantha
Verticordia sect. Chrysorhoe
Verticordia sect. Chrysorhoe is a section of Verticordia that describes a group of four shrub species. The section is contained by a subgenus, Verticordia subg. Chrysoma, in Alex George's 1991 revision of the genus. The sections name, which may refer to the flowers, is derived from Greek, chryso-...
(3 spp.)
Verticordia patens
Verticordia patens is a slender woody shrub found in Western Australia. It is between 200 - 1300 mm tall and has yellow and green flowers, held out in rounded bunches. It was first described in The Western Australian Naturalist by Alexander George, from a collection he made at Moore River,...
V. nitens V. aurea
Verticordia aurea
Verticordia aurea is a woody shrub found in Western Australia, referred to by the common name Buttercups. The profusion of flowers are a rich yellow or orange, presented on the corymbosely formed upper branches of the shrub, at a height between 0.6 and 1.5 metres...