Styphelia sieberi explained

Styphelia sieberi, commonly known as prickly beard-heath,[1] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect, densely-branched shrub with oblong to more or less egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and white, tube-shaped flowers arranged singly in upper leaf axils.

Description

Styphelia sieberi is an erect, densely-branched shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about, and has softly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are oblong to more or less egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long. The edges of the leaves are finely toothed, there is a sharp point up to long on the tip, and the surfaces are more or less glabrous. The flowers are arranged singly in upper leaf axils on a peduncle about long, with bracteoles long at the base. The sepals are long, the petals white and joined at the base to form a tube long with lobes long. Flowering occurs from May to October and the fruit is a smooth, glabrous, oval to elliptic drupe long.[2] [3]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name Leucopogon juniperinus in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen.[4] [5] In 2020, Michael Hislop, Darren Crayn and Caroline Puente-Lelievre transferred the species to Styphelia as S. sieberi in Australian Systematic Botany. The name S. juniperina was not available, because it had already been given to a species, now known as Leptecophylla juniperina. The specific epithet (sieberi) honours Franz Sieber.[6]

Distribution and habitat

Prickly beard-heath grows in forest and open shrubland on the coast and nearby tablelands of south-eastern Queensland, New South Wales and east of the Mitchell River in Victoria.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Powell . Jocelyn M. . Leucopogon juniperinus . Royal Botanic Garden Sydney . 9 January 2023.
  2. Book: Robinson . Les . Field guide to the native plants of Sydney . 1991 . Kangaroo Press . Kenthurst, NSW . 0864171927 . 109.
  3. Benson . Doug . McDougall . Lyn . Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 3: Dicotyledon families Cabombaceae to Eupomatiaceae . Cunninghamia . 1995 . 4 . 2 . 371–372 . 9 January 2023.
  4. Web site: Leucopogon juniperinus. APNI. 9 January 2023.
  5. Book: Brown . Robert . Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van-Diemen, exhibens characteres plantarum . 1810 . London . 546 . 9 January 2023.
  6. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 307 . 3rd.
  7. Web site: Powell . Jocelyn M. . Walsh . Neville G. . Brown . Elizabeth A. . Styphelia sieberi . Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria . 9 January 2023.