Verticordia forrestii
Encyclopedia
Verticordia forrestii is a woody shrub that occurs in the north of Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. It was named after an explorer and statesman, John Forrest
John Forrest
Sir John Forrest GCMG was an Australian explorer, the first Premier of Western Australia and a cabinet minister in Australia's first federal parliament....

, and first described by the botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller
Ferdinand von Mueller
Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, in 1883. It is also known as Forrest's Featherflower.

The densely branched shrub is one of the many extraordinarily flowered Verticordia of the western botanical provinces. The flowers of this species are pink and reddish, or white, and fade out to the fringe. The single flowers are arranged on spiked groups that slightly splay outward on their branches. The occurrence is between Carnarvon
Carnarvon, Western Australia
Carnarvon is a coastal town situated approximately 900 kilometres north of Perth, Western Australia. It lies at the mouth of the Gascoyne River on the Indian Ocean. The popular Shark Bay world heritage area lies to the south of the town and the Ningaloo Reef lies to the north...

 and Onslow
Onslow, Western Australia
Onslow is a coastal town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, north of Perth. It currently has a population of around 573 people and is in the Shire of Ashburton Local Government Area....

 on the northwest coast, and distributed inland to the east and south. An early collection was made further northeast, at Roebourne, although it has not been found since then.

It is a common species in Verticordia sect. Pennuligera
Verticordia sect. Pennuligera
Verticordia sect. Pennuligera is a section of Verticordia that describes a group of sixteen shrub species. This description was first made in 1857 by Carl Meissner in Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, but he did not nominate a type for this grouping. The section was later included...

, identified by its range and flowering earlier than its many cogenors.

It occurs in deep red or yellow sands, especially in the ridges, coastal dunes, and open scrub of the region.

The species is cultivated as an ornamental shrub, small in size, and usually presenting rose pink flowers that are profuse and perfumed. These appear during November, continuing until April, opening together and nearly covering the leaves and branches.
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