Spyridium spadiceum is a species of flowering plant in the family Rhamnaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect or semi-prostrate shrub with narrowly oblong to oval leaves and heads of hairy flowers with brown bracts at the base.
Spyridium spadiceum is an erect slender, or weak semi-prostrate shrub that typically grows to a height of, its branches covered with soft, sometimes rust-coloured hairs. The leaves are narrowly oblong to oval, long, softly-hairy on the upper surface and white on the lower side, the veins sometimes covered with rust-coloured hairs. The flowers heads are arranged in cymes with many broad, brown bracts at the base. The sepal tube is about long and densely hairy.[1]
This species was first formally described in 1837 by Eduard Fenzl who gave it the name Trymalium spadiceum in Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad fluvium Cygnorum et in sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus Liber Baro de Hügel.[2] [3] In 1863, George Bentham changed the name to Spyridium spadiceum in Flora Australiensis.[4] The specific epithet (spadiceum) means "brown" or "date-coloured", referring to the floral bracts.[5]
Spyridium spadiceum grows on granitic hills in the Porongurup Range and at Albany in the Jarrah Forest bioregion in the south of Western Australia.[6]
Spyridium spadiceum is listed as "Priority Four" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is rare or near threatened.[7]