Micromyrtus obovata

Micromyrtus obovata is a species of the flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end toward the base, white flowers 4–5 mm in diameter, and 10 stamens in each flower.

Description
Micromyrtus obovata is an erect shrub that typically grows to 0.4–1.6 m high and has its leaves densely arranged near the ends of branchlets. Its leaves are erect, egg-shaped to broadly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 1.5–3.0 mm long and 0.8–1.4 mm wide on a petiole 0.3–0.5 mm long. The flowers are 4–5 mm in diameter, and arranged in between 6 and 20 or more upper leaf axils on a peduncle 0.5–1.5 mm long. The sepals are egg-shaped or elliptic, 0.4–0.7 mm long an 0.5–1 mm wide. The petals are white, very broadly egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base and 1.5–2.0 mm long. There are 10 stamens in each flower, the anthers about 0.25 mm long. Flowering occurs between July and September, and the fruit is 1.3–1.4 mm long and 0.9–1.2 mm wide, containing a single golden brown seed.

Taxonomy
This species was first described in 1852 by Nikolai Turczaninow who gave it the name Thryptomene obovata in the Bulletin de la Classe Physico-Mathématique de l'Académie Impériale des Sciences de Saint-Pétersbourg from material collected by James Drummond. In 1985, John Green transferred the species to Micromyrtus as M. obovata. The specific epithet (obovata) means "inverted egg-shaped", referring to the shape of the leaves.

Distribution and habitat
Micromyrtus obovata grows on hills, slopes and flats between Wubin, Lake Grace and Southern Cross in the Avon Wheatbelt, Coolgardie, Esperance Plains, and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia.