Synonymisation of <i>Verticordia</i> <i>spicata</i> subsp. <i>squamosa</i> under <i>V</i> . <i>spicata</i> (Myrtaceae) based on molecular and morphological evidence

Verticordia spicata subsp.squamosa A.S.George was described by George (1991) to distinguish a rare, geographically disjunct entity with smaller floral and leaf features from the more widespread V. spicata F.Muell.subsp.spicata.Subsequently, subsp.squamosa was declared as Rare Flora in 1995 and it remains listed as Critically Endangered under the current Western Australian Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 due to the very small area of occurrence, very low number of individuals and ongoing decline (Stack et al. 2004; State of Western Australia 2024).However, a recent assessment of the since expanded collections of these taxa has demonstrated that the geographic separation between the two subspecies has been considerably overestimated, that the few diagnostic characters between the two subspecies are not discrete but continuous and overlapping, and that there is similar or greater morphological and molecular variation within subsp.spicata than there is between the two subspecies (Bradbury et al. 2025).As such, there is no taxonomic basis for continuing to recognise V. spicata subsp.squamosa as a separate taxon and, consequently, also no basis for its conservation listing.Here we synonymise subsp.squamosa under V. spicata to form a single species that is common in the coastal Midwest region of Western Australia.