Verticordia helichrysantha
| coast featherflower | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Myrtales |
| Family: | Myrtaceae |
| Genus: | Verticordia |
| Subgenus: | Verticordia |
| Section: | Verticordia |
| Species: | V. helichrysantha |
| Binomial name | |
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Verticordia helichrysantha F.Muell. ex Benth. |
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Verticordia helichrysantha, commonly known as coast featherflower or Barrens featherflower, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a small, woody, open-branched shrub with crowded, linear leaves and small yellow flowers from May to September.
Verticordia helichrysantha is an openly-branched, more or less sprawling shrub which grows to 30 cm (10 in) high and 50 cm (20 in) wide. The leaves are clustered, crowded, pale greyish-green, 3–8 mm (0.1–0.3 in) long, linear to club-shaped, semi-circular in cross-section with a rounded end.
The flowers are arranged singly or in small groups in the upper leaf axils, each flower on a stalk, 2–5 mm (0.08–0.2 in) long. The floral cup is 2 mm (0.08 in) long, smooth and hairy. The sepals are pale yellow, 4.5–5 mm (0.18–0.20 in) long, covered with short, soft hairs and have 4 or 5 feathery lobes. The petals are the same colour as the sepals, about 3.0–3.5 mm (0.12–0.14 in) long, erect and egg-shaped, covered with short, soft hairs on their outer surface and have irregular teeth along their edge. The style is 14–17 mm (0.6–0.7 in) long, curved with a few inconspicuous hairs and extends well beyond the petals. Flowering time is from May to September or October.
The short, greyish leaves and softly hairy sepals and petals distinguish this species from similar verticordias.
Verticordia helichrysantha was first formally described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1867 and the description was published in George Bentham's Flora Australiensis. The type collection was made by George Maxwell. The specific epithet (helichrysantha) may derive from the old genus name Helichrysanthum (now Helichrysum and others) for plants in the sunflower family Asteraceae. Helichrysum was derived from the Ancient Greek ἥλιος (helios) meaning "sun" and χρυσός (khrysos) meaning "gold".
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