Styphelia adscendens explained

Styphelia adscendens, commonly known as golden heath,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a prostrate or low-lying shrub with lance-shaped leaves and cream-coloured, pale yellowish-green or reddish flowers arranged singly or in paris in leaf axils.

Description

Styphelia adscendens is a prostrate or low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about, its branchlets covered with soft hairs. The leaves are lance-shaped, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, long, wide and often slightly twisted. The flowers are erect, arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils with lance-shaped bracts long and bracteoles long. The flowers are erect, cream-coloured, pale yellowish-green or reddish, the sepals long and the petals forming a tube long with bearded lobes long. The stamen filaments are long and the style long. Flowering occurs from June to December and the fruit is oval, slightly lobed, and long.[2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy

Styphelia adscendens was first formally described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown in Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae.[5] [6] The specific epithet (adscendens) means "ascending".[7]

Distribution and habitat

Golden heath grows in scrub, woodland and forest from south of Nerriga in New South Wales, in eastern and western Victoria, in far south-eastern South Australia and in Tasmania.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Albrecht . David E. . Styphelia adscendens . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 2 May 2022.
  2. Web site: Powell . Jocelyn M. . Styphelia adscendens . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 2 May 2022.
  3. Web site: Styphelia adscendens . State Herbarium of South Australia . 2 May 2022.
  4. Book: Wild Plants of Victoria (database). 2009 . Viridans Biological Databases & Department of Sustainability and Environment.
  5. Web site: Styphelia adscendens. APNI. 2 May 2022.
  6. Book: Brown . Robert . Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum . 1810 . London . 537 . 2 May 2022.
  7. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 128 . 3rd.
  8. Web site: Jordan . Greg . Styphelia adscendens . University of Tasmania . 2 May 2022.