Verticordia venusta is a shrub that occurs in Southwest Australia

Southwest Australia

Southwest Australia is a biodiversity hotspot that includes the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregions of Western Australia. The region has a wet-winter, dry-summer Mediterranean climate, one of five such regions in the world...

. The epithet is derived from venustus, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 for charming, and refers to the flower of the plant.

Description

Verticordia venusta is a species of Verticordia

Verticordia

Verticordia, a genus of the Myrtaceae family, are woody shrubs with small and exquisite flowers. They are mostly found in Southwest Australia, with several outlier species in northern regions. A revision of the genus in 1991 produced a classification within Verticordia of 3 subgenera, 24 sections,...

, a genus within the family Myrtaceae

Myrtaceae

The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, clove, guava, feijoa, allspice, and eucalyptus belong here. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five...

, which are noted for their exquisite flowers. The flowers of this plant are a pinkish or darker maroon.
These shrubs are erect and spreading, attaining a height and width of between 0.3 and 2 metres. They do not possess a lignotuber

Lignotuber

A lignotuber is a starchy swelling of the root crown possessed by some plants as a protection against destruction of the plant stem by fire. The crown contains buds from which new stems may sprout, and a sufficient store of nutrients to support a period of growth in the absence of...

, having one main stem that is openly branched.

The plumose flowers appear successively along a spike like arrangement, becoming deeper maroon in colour. As the flowers age, turning silvery and pinkish, they become scented.

Discovery and naming

The type collection for Verticordia grandis is the one obtained by Basil Smith, the location was 'south of Manmanning'. The species was first described by Alex George

Alex George

Alexander Segger George is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera Banksia and Dryandra...

 in 1991.

Infrageneric placement

The taxonomic arrangement of this species, placed in a section of the subgenus

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...

 Verticordia subg. Eperephes

Verticordia subg. Eperephes

Verticordia subg. Eperephes is a botanical name for a grouping of similar plant species in the genus Verticordia. This subgenus contains six sections, classifying forty four species, of Alex George's infrageneric arrangement...

 as Verticordia sect. Pennuligera

Verticordia sect. Pennuligera

Verticordia sect. Pennuligera is a section of Verticordia that describes a group of sixteen shrub species. This description was first made in 1857 by Carl Meissner in Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, but he did not nominate a type for this grouping. The section was later included...

, was published in Nuytsia

Nuytsia (journal)

Nuytsia is a peer-reviewed journal published by the Western Australian Herbarium. It publishes papers on systematic botany, giving preference to papers related to the flora of Western Australia. Nearly twenty percent of Western Australia's plant taxa have been published in Nuytsia. First published...

; Alex George

Alex George

Alexander Segger George is a Western Australian botanist. He is the authority on the plant genera Banksia and Dryandra...

's 1991 revision of the genus. The infrageneric placement is as follows:

Verticordia

Verticordia

Verticordia, a genus of the Myrtaceae family, are woody shrubs with small and exquisite flowers. They are mostly found in Southwest Australia, with several outlier species in northern regions. A revision of the genus in 1991 produced a classification within Verticordia of 3 subgenera, 24 sections,...

V. subg. Chrysoma

Verticordia subg. Chrysoma

Verticordia subg. Chrysoma is a botanical name for a grouping of similar plant species in the genus Verticordia.This subgenus contains seven sections, classifying twenty one species, of Alex George's infrageneric arrangement...

 (7 sections, 21 species)

V. subg. Verticordia

Verticordia subg. Verticordia

Verticordia subg. Verticordia is a botanical name for a grouping of similar plant species in the genus Verticordia. This subgenus contains eleven sections, classifying thirty six species, of Alex George's infrageneric arrangement. A number of anatomical features differentiate the contained species...

 (11 sections, 36 species)

V. subg. Eperephes

Verticordia subg. Eperephes

Verticordia subg. Eperephes is a botanical name for a grouping of similar plant species in the genus Verticordia. This subgenus contains six sections, classifying forty four species, of Alex George's infrageneric arrangement...

V. sect. Integripetala (5 species)

V. sect. Tropica

Verticordia sect. Tropica

Verticordia sect. Tropica is a section of Verticordia that describes three species; outliers in the distribution range of the genus...

 (3 species)

V. sect. Jamiesoniana (1 species)

V. sect. Verticordella

Verticordia sect. Verticordella

Verticordia sect. Verticordella is a section of Verticordia that describes a group of eighteen shrub species. This description was first made in 1857 by Carl Meissner in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, but he did not indicate the reason for his choice of the name. It was...

 (18 species)

V. sect. Corynatoca (1 species)

V. sect. Pennuligera

Verticordia sect. Pennuligera

Verticordia sect. Pennuligera is a section of Verticordia that describes a group of sixteen shrub species. This description was first made in 1857 by Carl Meissner in Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, but he did not nominate a type for this grouping. The section was later included...

V. comosa

V. lepidophylla

V. chrysostachys

V. aereiflora

Verticordia aereiflora

Verticordia aereiflora is a woody shrub found in Western Australia....

V. dichroma

V. x eurardyensis

V. muelleriana

V. argentea

Verticordia argentea

Verticordia argentea is a woody shrub found in Southwest Australia.It is found on ridges and sandhills of the Geraldton Sandplains, occurring on white, grey, or yellow sands. The habit is erect and open, with a height between 0.9 an 2.0 metres. The leaves are rounded, rolled at the margin, and...

V. albida

Verticordia albida

Verticordia albida is a rare woody shrub found in Western Australia....

V. fragrans

V. venusta

V. forrestii

Verticordia forrestii

Verticordia forrestii is a woody shrub that occurs in the north of Western Australia. It was named after an explorer and statesman, John Forrest, and first described by the botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller, in 1883...

V. serotina

V. oculata

Verticordia oculata

Verticordia oculata is a sprawling woody shrub found in Western Australia. The plant displays silver-white flowers with a dark centre of lilac and purple, the largest flowers of the genus Verticordia....

V. etheliana

V. grandis

Verticordia grandis

Verticordia grandis is a large woody shrub that occurs in Southwest Australia. The name grandis, Latin for large, is a reference to its large flowers, leaves, and height. It is well known for its large flowers, which are collected and cultivated, and given the informal name of Scarlet Featherflower...

The leaves of this section are often described as the round or lettuce-leaved species.