Styphelia tamminensis explained

Styphelia tamminensis is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a slender shrub with many branches, overlapping triangular to egg-shaped leaves and white, tube-shaped flower arranged singly in upper leaf axils.

Description

Styphelia tamminensis is a slender, much-branched undershrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are sessile, overlap each other and are triangular to egg-shaped, long and wide. The leaves are thick and leathery, the upper surface smooth and the lower surface with five to seven thick, parallel ribs. The flowers are arranged singly in upper leaf axils with lance-shaped bracts and broadly egg-shaped bracteoles about long. The sepals are long with reddish-brown tips, and the petals white and joined at the base, forming a cylindrical tube about 50% longer than the sepals, with broadly lance-shaped lobes that are bearded inside.[1]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1904 by Ernst Georg Pritzel who gave it the name Leucopogon tamminensis in Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie from a specimen found on sand-dunes near Tammin.[2] [3] In 1963, Hermann Otto Sleumer transferred the species to Styphelia as S. tamminensis. The specific epithet, (tamminensis) means "native of Tammin".[4]

In the same journal, Pritzel described the variety australis, but 2020, Michael Clyde Hislop, Darren M. Crayn and Caroline Puente-Lelievre raised the variety to species status. Since the name Styphelia australis was used for a different species, (Styphelia australis (R.Br.) F.Muell., now known as Leucopogon australis R.Br.)[5] the new species was given the name Styphelia decussata.

Distribution

This leucopogon is found in the Avon Wheatbelt and Esperance Plains IBRA Regions in the south-west of Western Australia.

Conservation status

Styphelia tamminensis is listed as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[6]

Notes and References

  1. Strid . Arne K. . New Species of Leucopogon and Conostephium (Epacridaceae) from SW Australia. . Willdenowia . 1986 . 16 . 175–177 . 2 June 2023.
  2. Web site: Leucopogon tamminensis. APNI. 2 June 2015.
  3. Pritzel . Ernst G. . Diels . Friedrich L.E. . Pritzel . Ernst G. . Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae occidentalis. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Pflanzen Westaustraliens, ihrer Verbreitung und ihrer Lebensverhaltnisse. . Botanische Jahrbücher für Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie . 1904 . 35 . 2–3 . 479 . 2 June 2023.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 320 . 3rd.
  5. Web site: Leucopogon australis . Plants of the World Online . 24 November 2023.
  6. Web site: Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna. Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. 2 June 2023.