Brachyloma pirara

Brachyloma pirara is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic a restricted area in the west of Western Australia. It is an erect, compact shrub with sharply-pointed, linear to narrowly egg-shaped or narrowly elliptic leaves, and red, tube-shaped flowers.

Description
Brachyloma pirara is an erect, compact shrub that usually grows to 60 cm high and wide and has many stems arising from its base. The leaves are sharply-pointed, linear to narrowly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base to narrowly elliptic, 5.0–8.0 mm long and 1.2–2.2 mm wide on a petiole 0.4–0.8 mm long. The leaves are moderately hairy, more so on the lower surface and the lower surface is paler than the upper surface. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils with egg-shaped bracts 0.3–1.2 mm long and bracteoles 1.8–2.8 mm long and 1.7–2.5 mm wide at the base. The sepals are broadly egg-shaped, 3.0–3.6 mm long and 2.0–2.7 mm wide, straw-coloured with red tinges near the edges. The petals are red, and joined to form a tube 3.6–4.6 mm long with egg-shaped lobes 2.6–3.5 mm long. Flowering occurs between late-autumn and late-winter, sometimes after rain at other times, and the fruit is a broadly elliptic drupe about 5.0–6.0 mm long and wide.

Taxonomy and naming
Brachyloma pirara was first formally described 2017 by Raymond Cranfield and Michael Hislop in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected by Hislop near Northampton in 2005. The specific epithet (pirara) is a Nyoongar word meaning "sand" or "sandy place".

Distribution
This species of shrub grows in yellow sandplains in low woodland or heath between Kalbarri National Park and Whicherina on the Geraldton to Mount Magnet Road, in the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status
Brachyloma pirara 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.