Leucopogon gnaphalioides is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a slender or sprawling shrub with crowded egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and spikes of tube-shaped white flowers on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils.
| Leucopogon gnaphalioides | |
|---|---|
| |
| In the Stirling Range National Park | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Leucopogon |
| Species: | L. gnaphalioides
|
| Binomial name | |
| Leucopogon gnaphalioides | |
| |
| Occurrence data from AVH | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
|
Styphelia gnaphalioides (Stschegl.) F.Muell. | |
Description
editLeucopogon gnaphalioides is a slender or sprawling shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.25–1 m (9.8 in – 3 ft 3.4 in). Its leaves are egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 6.0–8.5 mm (0.24–0.33 in) long with prominent striations. The flowers are arranged in short, dense spikes on the ends of branches or in upper leaf axils with bracts and bracteoles about half as long as the sepals. The sepals are about 3 mm (0.12 in) long and narrow, and the petals white, forming a tube about half the length of the sepals, the lobes longer than the petal tube.[2][3]
Taxonomy
editLeucopogon gnaphalioides was first formally described in 1859 by Sergei Sergeyevich Sheglejev in the Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou from specimens collected by James Drummond.[4][5] The specific epithet (gnaphalioides) means "Gnaphalium-like.[6]
Distribution and habitat
editThis leucopogon grows in shallow, rocky soils on rocky slopes and plateaus in the Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia.[3]
Conservation status
editLeucopogon gnaphalioides is listed as "Threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,[3] meaning that it is in danger of extinction.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b "Leucopogon gnaphalioides". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Bentham, George (1868). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 4. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 198. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ a b c "Leucopogon gnaphalioides". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
- ^ "Leucopogon gnaphalioides". APNI. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Sheglejev, Sergei Sergeyevich (1859). "Epacridearum Novarum". Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou. 32 (1): 15. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 208. ISBN 9780958034180.
- ^ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 24 December 2022.