Prostanthera patens
Prostanthera patens is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae and is endemic to Western Australia. It is a small shrub with stiff, spine-like, hairy branches, egg-shaped to broadly elliptic, hairy leaves and red and orange to pale red flowers. Description. "Prostanthera patens" is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has stiff, spine-like, hairy branches. The leaves are often clustered towards the ends of the branchlets and are egg-shaped to broadly elliptic, long, about wide on a short petiole. Each flower is on a densely hairy pedicel long  with green to maroon sepals forming a tube long with two lobes long. The petals are red, orange to pale red near the base, long and form a tube long. The lower lip of the petal tube has three lobes, the centre lobe oblong, long and the side lobes long. The upper lip is long with a central notch deep. Flowering occurs from August to October. Taxonomy. "Prostanthera patens" was first formally described in 1984 by Barry Conn in the "Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Garden" from specimens collected in 1975 near Pindar. Distribution and habitat. This mintbush grows in  rocky places near granite and ironstone in the Avon Wheatbelt, Murchison and Yalgoo biogeographic regions. Conservation status. "Prostanthera patens" is classified as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife.