Synaphea hians

Synaphea hians is a species of flowering plant in the family Proteaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate or low-lying shrub with hairy branchlets, wedge-shaped leaves with three lobes, spikes of more or less crowded yellow flowers and broadly oval fruit.

Synaphea hians
Conservation status
Priority Three — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Proteales
Family:	Proteaceae
Genus:	Synaphea
Species:	S. hians
Binomial name
Synaphea hians A.S.George[1]

Description

Synaphea hians is a prostrate or low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.15–0.6 m (5.9 in – 1 ft 11.6 in) high and up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) wide, with hairy stems up to 50 cm (20 in) long, that later become glabrous. The leaves are wedge-shaped, more or less wavy with three lobes, 40–100 mm (1.6–3.9 in) long and 25–45 mm (0.98–1.77 in) wide, on a hairy petiole 40–150 mm (1.6–5.9 in) long. The lobes of the leaves are triangular, sometimes with one or two teeth with a small point on the tip. The flowers are yellow and borne in more or less crowded spikes 40–100 mm (1.6–3.9 in) long on a peduncle up to 250 mm (9.8 in) long. There are spreading, hairy, tapered bracts 3–6 mm (0.12–0.24 in) long at the base of the peduncles. The perianth opens widely, the upper tepal gently to strongly curved, 6.5–7.5 mm (0.26–0.30 in) long and 2.8–3.5 mm (0.11–0.14 in) wide, the lower tepal 4.5–6 mm (0.18–0.24 in) long. The stigma is oblong with erect to curved horns, 1.7–2.5 mm (0.067–0.098 in) long and about 1.8 mm (0.071 in) wide. Flowering occurs in September and October and the fruit is broadly oval, 3.0–3.5 mm (0.12–0.14 in) long and covered with soft hairs.^[2][3]

Taxonomy

Synaphea hians was first formally described in 1995 by Alex George in the Flora of Australia from specimens he collected about 6 km (3.7 mi) east of Busselton on the road to Nannup in 1993.^[2][4] The specific epithet (hians) means 'gaping', referring to the perianth.^[5]

Distribution and habitat

This species of Synaphea grows on sandy rises in low eucalypt woodland from east of Busselton to south of Collie in the Jarrah Forest and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.^[2][3]

Conservation status

Synaphea hians is listed as "Priority Three" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions^[3] meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat.^[6]