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Verticordia amphigia, known as pixie ears, is a open, much-branched shrub from the sandplains of south-west Western Australia, grown for its scented yellow flowers. It is a species, not a genus, and its horticultural potential is noted in the sources, though it is grown mainly as a specialist plant.
Verticordia amphigia commonly known as pixie ears is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is usually an open, much-branched shrub with narrow leaves and yellow flowers which sometimes produce a "sea" of colour in the wild. The flowers are surrounded by boat-shaped bracteoles which give the plant both its common and scientific names.
Wild populations of this verticordia often produce a massed display of yellow flowers on red stems, indicating that the species has horticultural potential. The dried flowers retain their colour and might in future be grown commercially for the cut flower trade. Cuttings from wild plants have proven very difficult to strike but those taken from cultivated specimens have a much higher strike rate. Other methods of propagation have not as yet been trialled.
This verticordia grows in sand, often in association with Melaleuca rhaphiophylla and Banksia prionotes, between Cockleshell Gully and Eneabba in the Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions.
Verticordia acerosa · Verticordia aereiflora · White featherflower · Verticordia apecta · Verticordia argentea · Verticordia attenuata · Verticordia aurea · Verticordia auriculata · Verticordia bifimbriata · Verticordia blepharophylla · Verticordia brachypoda · Verticordia brevifolia
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Verticordia amphigia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
