Verticordia serrata
Verticordia serrata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a spindly or openly branched shrub with hairy, egg-shaped leaves and flowers which are golden at first, then fade to a greyish colour. Description. "Verticordia serrata" is an openly branched shrub which grows to a height of and which usually has one main branch. Its leaves are either elliptic to egg-shaped and long or linear in shape and long, depending on variety, but always have hairy eges. The flowers are usually scented and  are arranged in corymb-like groups on erect stalks from long with the longest stalks on the lowest flowers in each group. The floral cup is long, warty and glabrous. The sepals spread widely, are golden-yellow, turning greyish with age, long, with 6 to 8 hairy lobes. The petals are a similar colour to the sepals, long and egg-shaped with a toothed margin. The style is long, straight and glabrous. Flowering time differs, depending on the variety. Taxonomy and naming. This species was first formally described by John Lindley in 1839 and given the name "Chrysohoe serrata". The  description was published in "A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony". In 1841, Johannes Conrad Schauer changed the name to "Verticordi serrata". Alex George undertook a review of the genus "Verticordia" in 1991 and described three varieties of this species: George placed this species in subgenus "Chrysoma", section "Sigalantha" along with "V. integra. Distribution and habitat. This verticordia occurs in the south-west of Western Australia, each variety with a different range. The most widesread is var. "serrata" which occurs from near Perth, inland as far as Koonadgin and as far east in coastal areas as Raventhorpe . All grow in sand, often with gravel, loam or clay in shrubland and woodland, often with other species of verticordia. Conservation. Variety "linearis" is classified as "Priority Three" meaning that it is poorly known and known from only a few locations but is not under imminent threat. The other two varieties are classified as "not threatened". Use in horticulture. All three varieties can be propagated from cuttings, but var. "linearis" is the easiest to strike. All are described as "ornamental" and "attractive" and also sometimes slow-growing, appear to be hardy when established.