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Verticordia nitens
Also called Morrison Feather Flower, Morrison Flower, Glistening Verticordia, Morrison, Orange Morrison, Yellow Morrison, Morrison's Featherflower
Christmas Morrison is a compact, upright shrub from south-west Western Australia, grown for its small, scented, golden to orange flower heads that appear from October to February. It is best kept in full sun and sandy, free-draining soil, and benefits from early or light pruning.
Verticordia nitens, commonly known as Christmas Morrison and other names, is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The Noongar peoples know the plant as kotyeningara. It is an upright shrub with glistening and perfumed flower heads that appear between October and February. The small compact and erect flowers have been noted for their beauty. Although it occurs in areas near Perth, Morrison featherflower is not classed as rare or endangered because it still occurs in large populations, although its numbers have undoubtedly been reduced as a result of urban development.
The plant was regarded as highly desirable by gardeners in England. The spectacular display, "strikingly beautiful", was expected to be marketable, yet it has presented difficulties in its propagation. It was introduced to English gardens in 1840, but was not known to have flowered until 1861. The introduction to the eastern states of Australia has met with some success, due to the refining of the technique of propagation and the application of early pruning. Heavy pruning was first suggested by James Drummond, an early collector and promoter of the region's flora.
Verticordia nitens occurs as far north as Moore River, and as far south as Yarloop in the Avon Wheatbelt and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions although it does not reach as far as Harvey. The urban sprawl around Perth has created disjunct populations to its north and south. It grows in sand, usually in Banksia woodland and often occurs with Nuytsia floribunda, the Western Australian Christmas Tree, both species having flowers of a "brilliant orange colour".
Pink Brownii · Verticordia elizabethiae · Scarlet Featherflower · Verticordia halophila
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Verticordia nitens 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.
