imported>BD2412: Clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: ; → ;

2024-08-16T00:06:55Z

Clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: ; → ;

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{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|name = Tiny thomasia
|image = Thomasia_pygmaea.jpg
|image_caption = In [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne]]
|genus = Thomasia
|species = pygmaea
|status_system = DECF
|status = P3
|authority = ([[Turcz.]]) [[Benth.]]<ref name="APC">{{cite web |title=''Thomasia pygmaea'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/65908 |website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=8 October 2019}}</ref>
|synonyms_ref= <ref name="APC" />
|synonyms =
* ''Asterochiton pygmaeus'' Turcz.
* ''Lasiopetalum pygmaeum'' (Turcz.) [[F.Muell.]]
* ''Lasiopetalum pygmalum'' F.Muell. [[orth. var.]]
* ''Lasiopetalum pymacum'' F.Muell. orth. var.
}}

'''''Thomasia pygmaea''''', commonly known as '''tiny thomasia''',<ref name=WA>{{FloraBase|name=''Thomasia pygmaea''|id=5095}}</ref> is a species of flowering plant in the family [[Malvaceae]] and is [[endemic]] to southern Western Australia. It is a low, dense, compact shrub with broadly heart-shaped to egg-shaped or more or less round leaves and pink to purple flowers.

==Description==
''Thomasia pygmaea'' is a dense, compact shrub that typically grows to {{cvt|10–20|cm}} high and up to {{cvt|80|cm}} wide, its stems covered with rust-coloured scales. Its leaves are broadly heart-shaped to egg-shaped or more or less round, {{cvt|2–12|mm}} long and {{cvt|8–10|mm}} wide on a [[Petiole (botany)|petiole]] {{cvt|10–15|mm}} long. The surface of the leaves is covered with pale or rust-coloured scales, densely so on the lower surface. The flowers are {{cvt|18|mm}} in diameter and arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils a scaly [[Peduncle (botany)|peduncle]] {{cvt|30–40|mm}} long, each flower on a [[Pedicel (botany)|pedicel]] {{cvt|8–10|mm}} long. The [[sepal]]s are pink to purple and sparsely covered with scaly hairs. Flowering occurs from August to October.<ref name="WA" /><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=52–53}}</ref><ref name=Greig>{{cite book|author=Greig, D.| title=The Australian Gardener's Wildflower Catalogue| publisher=Angus & Robertson|location= Australia | year=1987 | isbn=0207154600}}</ref>

==Taxonomy and naming==
This species was first formally described in 1852 by [[Nicolai Stepanovitch Turczaninow]] who gave it the name ''Asterochiton pygmaeus'' in ''Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'' from specimens collected by [[James Drummond (botanist)|James Drummond]].<ref name="APNI1">{{cite web |title=''Asterochiton pygmaeus'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/538665 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref><ref name="Turcz.">{{cite journal |last1=Turczaninow |first1=Nikolai |title=Decas septima generum adhuc non descriptorum adjectis descriptionibus nonnullarum specierum. |journal=Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou |date=1852 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=138–139 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/181055#page/142/mode/1up |accessdate=27 January 2019}}</ref> In 1863, [[George Bentham]] changed the name to ''Thomasia pygmaea'' in ''[[Flora Australiensis]]''.<ref name="APNI">{{cite web |title=''Thomasia pygmaea'' |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/473271 |publisher=Australian Plant Name Index |access-date=1 February 2023}}</ref> The [[binomial nomenclature|specific epithet]] (''pygmaea'') means "dwarf".<ref name="Stearn">{{cite book |author=[[William T. Stearn]] |title=Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary |date=1992 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=4th|page=477}}</ref>

==Distribution and habitat==
This thomasia grows in woodland and shrubland between the south of the [[Stirling Range]] and the west of [[Esperance, Western Australia|Esperance]] in the [[Esperance Plains]] and [[Mallee bioregion|Mallee]] bioregions of southern Western Australia.<ref name="WA" /><ref name="Blake" />

==Conservation status==
''Thomasia pygmaea'' is listed as "[[Declared Rare and Priority Flora List|Priority Three]]" by the Government of Western Australia [[Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (Western Australia)|Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions]],<ref name="WA" /> 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=1 February 2023}}</ref>

==Use in horticulture==
Tiny thomasia is described as an attractive small shrub, useful for edging, container growing or in rockeries. It requires a light soil with good drainage and tolerates some shade and light frost.<ref name=Greig/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q7795562}}

[[Category:Rosids of Western Australia]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1806]]
[[Category:Thomasia|pygmaea]]
[[Category:Malvales of Australia]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1852]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Nikolai Turczaninow]]
[[Category:Endemic flora of Southwest Australia]]

Thomasia pygmaea - Revision history

imported>BD2412: Clean up spacing around commas and other punctuation fixes, replaced: ; → ;