Styphelia propinqua is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, rigid shrub with linear leaves and white tube-shaped flowers that are bearded inside.
Styphelia propinqua is an erect, rigid shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are linear, long with the edges curved downwards and an almost sharply-pointed tip. The flowers are usually borne in groups of 2 or 3, sometimes 3 or 4, in leaf axils on a short peduncle with small bracts and bracteoles less than half as long as the sepals. The sepals are about long and the petals are joined at the base, forming a tube shorter than the sepals but with lobes longer than the petal tube and strongly turned back. The fruit is almost spherical drupe long with a thick, hard endocarp.[1]
This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Leucopogon propinquus in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[2] [3] It was transferred in 1824 to the genus Styphelia as S. propinqua by Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel. The specific epithet (propinqua) means "near" or "resembling another species".[4]
Styphelia propinqua is widespread in the Avon Wheatbelt,Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia, and is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.