Stylidium ensatum is a dicotyledon

Dicotyledon

The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group...

ous plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 that belongs to the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Stylidium (family Stylidiaceae

Stylidiaceae

The family Stylidiaceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It consists of five genera with over 240 species, most of which are endemic to Australia and New Zealand. Members of Stylidiaceae are typically grass-like herbs or small shrubs and can be perennials or annuals...

) that was described as a new species by A.R. Bean in 2000, though the taxon had been noted by Rica Erickson

Rica Erickson

Frederica Lucy "Rica" Erickson AM, née Sandilands, was an Australian naturalist, botanical artist, historian, author and teacher. Without any formal scientific training, she wrote extensively on botany and birds, as well as genealogy and general history...

 in her discussion of S. muscicola

Stylidium muscicola

Stylidium muscicola is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus Stylidium that was described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859. It is an erect annual plant that grows from 5 to 33 cm tall. Obovate or orbicular leaves, about 4-20 per plant, form terminal rosettes with some scattered...

variation in 1958. The specific epithet ensatum is from the Latin ensatus, meaning sword-like, which refers to the shape of the floral throat appendages of this species. It is an erect annual plant

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 that grows from 14 to 22 cm tall. Obovate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 or orbicular leaves, about 6-17 per plant, are scattered along the stems. The leaves are generally 7-12 mm long, 5.5-12 mm wide, and lack petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

s. This species generally has one to three scapes

Scape (botany)

In botany, scapes are leafless flowering stems that rise from the ground. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....

 and cymose inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s that are 8-16 cm long. Flowers are pink or mauve. S. ensatum is endemic to the area around Darwin

Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. Situated on the Timor Sea, Darwin has a population of 127,500, making it by far the largest and most populated city in the sparsely populated Northern Territory, but the least populous of all Australia's capital cities...

 in the Northern Territory

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...

 of Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Its habitat has been reported as being a "Melaleuca viridiflora

Melaleuca viridiflora

Melaleuca viridiflora, known as broad-leaved paperbark, is a small tree native to woodlands, swamps and streams of monsoonal northern Australia and Papua New Guinea....

-Lophostemon lactifluus forest with damp peaty soil." It flowers in the southern hemisphere

Southern Hemisphere

The Southern Hemisphere is the part of Earth that lies south of the equator. The word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' or "half sphere"...

 from June to July. S. ensatum is most closely related to S. muscicola

Stylidium muscicola

Stylidium muscicola is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus Stylidium that was described by Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859. It is an erect annual plant that grows from 5 to 33 cm tall. Obovate or orbicular leaves, about 4-20 per plant, form terminal rosettes with some scattered...

. Its conservation status

Conservation status

The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...

 has been assessed as data deficient

Data Deficient

Data Deficient is a category applied by the IUCN, other agencies, and individuals to a species when the available information is not sufficient for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made...

.