Styphelia ericoides explained

Styphelia ericoides, commonly known as the pink beard-heath,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a slender shrub with oblong leaves, and white to pinkish, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

Styphelia ericoides is a slender shrub that typically grows to a height of, its branchlets softly hairy. The leaves are oblong, sometimes elliptic, long, wide and sessile, the upper surface dished, often with the edges curved downwards, and with a small point up to long on the tip. The flowers are white to pale pink and arranged on peduncles long in upper leaf axils, forming a spike long with egg-shaped bracteoles long. The sepals are egg-shaped, long, the petals joined at the base to form a tube long, the lobes long and softly-hairy inside. Flowering occurs from July to October and is followed by an often-curved oval drupe long.[2] [3] [4]

Taxonomy

Styphelia ericoides was first formally described by James Edward Smith in A Specimen of the Botany of New Holland.[5] The specific epithet (ericoides) means "Erica-like".[6]

Distribution and habitat

Pink beard-heath is widespread and common in south-east Queensland, the coast, tablelands and slopes of eastern New South Wales, southern Victoria, the far south-east of South Australia and Tasmania, where it grows in heath, forest and woodland.[7]

Ecology

In the Sydney region, S. ericoides is associated with Sydney peppermint (Eucalyptus piperita), scribbly gum (E. sclerophylla) and narrow-leaved apple (Angophora bakeri). Plants live between five and twenty years, are killed by fire and regenerate from seed which lies dormant in the soil. Bees seek out the flowers for their nectar.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Powell . Jocelyn M. . Leucopogon ericoides . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 14 October 2022.
  2. Web site: Leucopogon ericoides . State Herbarium of South Australia . 14 October 2022.
  3. Web site: Powell . Jocelyn M. . Walsh . Neville G. . Brown . Elizabeth M. . Styphelia ericoides . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 14 October 2022.
  4. Benson . Doug . McDougall . Lyn . Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 3: Dicotyledon families Cabombaceae to Eupomatiaceae . Cunninghamia . 1995 . 4 . 2 . 368 . 14 October 2022.
  5. Web site: Styphelia ericoides. APNI. 14 December 2023.
  6. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 193 . 3rd.
  7. Web site: Jordan . Greg . Leucopogon ericoides . University of Tasmania . 14 October 2022.