Homoranthus coracinus

Homoranthus coracinus is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to a small area in Queensland. It is a low, spreading shrub with pointed, narrow, egg-shaped leaves and groups of up to six flowers with black petals. It is only known from a single population in the Ka Ka Mundi part of the Carnarvon National Park.

Description
Homoranthus coracinus is a prostrate to low spreading shrub to 0.3 m high and 1.2 m wide with grey, stringy bark. The leaves are green or grey-green, pointed, narrowly egg-shaped 3.0-5.5 mm long, about 0.4 mm wide and 1.0-1.6 mm thick, covered faintly with oil glands, petiole about 0.5 mm long. The inflorescences are borne at the end of branches in pendulous clusters of 3-6 flowers, bracts 6-7 mm long, 2.4-2.7 mm wide, glandular, apex rounded and the peduncle thick and 2-3 mm long. The floral tube is cylindrical, 5.3-6 mm long, 2.8-3.3 mm in diameter, yellow, 4 faint ribs at the base, smooth and pink-red toward the tip. The 5 sepals are upright, white, 3.2-4.3 mm long, 1.2-1.5 mm wide and irregularly divided. The black petals are broadly egg-shaped, 2.7-3 mm long, 2.2-2.7 mm wide with smooth margins. Flowering occurs in April, May and September.

Taxonomy and naming
Homoranthus coracinus was first formally described in 2000 by Anthony Bean from a specimen collected in the Ka Ka Mundi National Park (now part of Carnarvon National Park) and the description was published in Austrobaileya. The specific epithet (coracinus) is a Latin word meaning "ravenlike" or "black as a crow", referring to the colour of the petals.

Distribution and habitat
This homoranthus grows in heath and sandstone outcrops in shallow soils and is endemic to the Mount Mooloolong area in Carnarvon National Park in central Queensland. heath on

Conservation status
The species is known from a single population. Bean (2000) species considered endangered. ROTAP code of 2ECit using Briggs and Leigh (1996) IUCN (2010) considered 'Endangered'.