Stylidium perplexum is a species of triggerplant that is endemic to south-west Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. It is a tuber

Tuber

Tubers are various types of modified plant structures that are enlarged to store nutrients. They are used by plants to survive the winter or dry months and provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing season and they are a means of asexual reproduction...

ous species that has many stems and has been described as "somewhat shrubby" at 15-40 cm tall. The linear

Leaf shape

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

 leaves can be 2 cm long and are arranged around the stem in a rosette

Rosette (botany)

In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem.-Function:...

 at the stem apices. The 8–19 cm tall 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....

 bear 6 to 14 flowers that are white with purple accents and corolla lobes that are laterally paired and 4-6 mm long.

S. perplexum was first collected by Graham S. McCutcheon in 1983, but was initially identified as S. fasciculatum. Juliet Wege

Juliet Wege

Juliet Ann Wege is an Australian botanist. She graduated in 1992 and gained a PhD at the University of Western Australia in 1999. She currently works as a researcher at the Western Australian Herbarium run by Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation...

 discovered the specimen at the Western Australian Herbarium

Western Australian Herbarium

The Western Australian Herbarium is the State Herbarium in Perth, Western Australia, Western Australia. It is part of the State government's Department of Environment and Conservation, and has responsibility for the description and documentation of the flora of Western Australia.The Herbarium is...

 (PERTH) and then relocated McCutcheon's original collection site in November 2007. The only known location of this species is on the Whicher Scarp, near Dardanup

Dardanup, Western Australia

Dardanup is a small town in the South West region of Western Australia. The town is located in the fertile Ferguson valley and is close to the Ferguson River.The area was first settled in 1852 by Thomas Little who named his property Dardanup Park...

. It grows in lateritic

Laterite

Laterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...

 soils among Eucalyptus marginata and Corymbia haematoxylon

Corymbia haematoxylon

Corymbia haematoxylon, formerly known as Eucalyptus haematoxylon, is a species of eucalypt native to northwestern Australia. It was given its current name in 1995 with the creation of the genus Corymbia. It is commonly called the mountain marri....

woodlands. It flowers in November and December.

Wege published the formal description of this species in August 2008.