Styphelia tenuiflora explained

Styphelia tenuiflora, commonly known as common pinheath, 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 shrub with broadly egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and whitish-cream, tube-shaped flowers with hairy lobes.

Description

Styphelia tenuiflora is an erect, bushy, rigid, glabrous shrub that typically grows up to high. The leaves are egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped, about long with a short, almost sessile with a sharply pointed tip. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, with bracteoles up to long at the base. The sepals are about long, and the petals are creamy white and joined at the base forming a narrow tube long with hairy lobes.[1]

Taxonomy

Styphelia tenuiflora was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley in his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.[2] [3] The specific epithet (tenuiflora) means "thin-flowered".[4]

Distribution

Common pinheath grows on gravelly lateritic soil in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

Styphelia tenuiflora is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

Notes and References

  1. Book: Bentham . George . Flora Australiensis . 4 . 1868 . Lovell Reeve & Co. . London . 148–149 . 24 April 2024.
  2. Web site: Styphelia tenuiflora. APNI. 24 April 2024.
  3. Book: Lindley . John . A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony . 1839 . James Ridgway . London . xxv . 24 April 2024.
  4. Book: Sharr . Francis Aubi . George . Alex . Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings . 2019 . Four Gables Press . Kardinya, WA . 9780958034180 . 321 . 3rd.