Babingtonia maleyae

Babingtonia maleyae, commonly known as the Narrogin babingtonia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a compact shrub with narrowly egg-shaped to elliptic leaves and white flowers usually arranged singly in leaf axils, each flower with 17 to 20 stamens.

Description
Babingtonia maleyae is a compact shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.8–1.3 m and has erect, slender stems. The leaves are mostly narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 1.7–4 mm long and 0.6–1.1 mm wide on a petiole 0.2–0.3 mm long. The flowers are usually arranged in singly in leaf axils on a peduncle 1.5–5 mm long with a bracteole 0.8–1.3 mm long at the base. The sepals are 0.5–0.8 mm long and 1.3–1.8 mm wide and the petals are white, 3.0–3.5 mm long with 17 to 20 stamens in each flower. The ovary has three locules and the style is 1.7–2.2 mm long. Flowering has been observed in January and February, and the fruit is a capsule 1.5–2 mm long and 2.5–3 mm in diameter.

Taxonomy
Babingtonia maleyae was first formally described in 2015 by Barbara Rye and Malcolm Trudgen in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected east of Narrogin in 2001. The specific epithet (maleyae) honours Sandra Maley, who prepared draft descriptions of many new species of Chamelaucieae.

Distribution and habitat
This species is only known from a few locations near Narrogin, where it grows in sandy loam with lateritic gravel, in the Avon Wheatbelt biogeographic region of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status
Babingtonia maleyae is listed as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.