Sprengelia sprengelioides explained

Sprengelia sprengelioides is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to near-coastal areas of eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with egg-shaped leaves, and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Description

Sprengelia sprengelioides is an erect, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of and has wiry stems. The leaves are egg-shaped, long and wide with a small point on the end and minute teeth on the edges. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils, with egg-shaped bracts long at the base. The sepals are broad, green, egg-shaped, and long. The petals white, joined at the base to form a tube long with lobes long. Flowering occurs from June to September and the fruit is a capsule about in diameter.[1] [2] [3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Ponceletia sprengelioides in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[4] [5] In 1917, George Claridge Druce changed the name to Sprengelia sprengelioides in the supplement to The Botanical Exchange Club and Society of the British Isles Report for 1916.[6] The specific epithet (sprengelioides) means "Sprengelia-like". (This species was originally in the genus Ponceletia.)

Habitat and distribution

Sprengelia sprengelioides grows swampy heath, sometimes with Banksia robur or species of Xyris. It occurs in near-coastal areas of south-eastern Queensland, and south to the Sydney region of New South Wales.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Powell . Jocelyn M. . Sprengelia sprengelioides . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 3 July 2022.
  2. Book: Robinson . Les . Field guide to the native plants of Sydney . 1991 . Kangaroo Press . Kenthurst, NSW . 0864171927 . 112.
  3. Book: Fairley . Alan . Moore . Philip . Native plants of the Sydney district : an identification guide . 1989 . Kangaroo Press in association with the Society for Growing Australian Plants-NSW . Kenthurst . 0864172613 . 96.
  4. Web site: Ponceletia sprengelioides. APNI. 6 July 2022.
  5. Book: Brown . Robert . Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae . 1810 . London . 554 . 6 July 2022.
  6. Web site: Sprengelia sprengelioides. APNI. 6 July 2022.
  7. Benson . Doug . MacDougall . Lyn . Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 3: Dicotyledon families Cabombaceae to Eupomataceae . Cunninghamia . 1995 . 4 . 2 . 385 . 6 July 2022.