Leucopogon incisus is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area in the far south of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a delicate, erect or sprawling shrub with glabrous young branchlets, spirally arranged, erect, narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaves, and white or pale pink, narrowly bell-shaped to more or less cylindrical flowers.

Leucopogon incisus

Priority Two — Poorly Known Taxa (DEC)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Leucopogon
Species:
L. incisus
Binomial name
Leucopogon incisus
Occurrence data from AVH

Description

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Leucopogon incisus is a delicate, erect to sprawling shrub that typically grows up to about 40 cm (16 in) high and 60 cm (24 in) wide with a single stem at the base and glabrous young branchlets. The leaves are spirally arranged and point upwards, narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic, 3.0–7.5 mm (0.12–0.30 in) long and 0.7–1.3 mm (0.028–0.051 in) wide on an indistinct petiole. The flowers are arranged in groups of 2 to 7, 1.5–4 mm (0.059–0.157 in) long on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils, with narrowly egg-shaped bracts and similar bracteoles 0.8–1.0 mm (0.031–0.039 in) long. The sepals are narrowly egg-shaped, 1.5–2.0 mm (0.059–0.079 in) long, the petals white or pale pink and joined at the base to form a narrowly bell-shaped to more or less cylindrical tube 1.4–1.8 mm (0.055–0.071 in) long, the lobes 1.2–1.5 mm (0.047–0.059 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs in September and October and the fruit is a flattened, elliptic drupe 1.8–2.3 mm (0.071–0.091 in) long.[2]

Taxonomy and naming

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Leucopogon incisus was first formally described in 2015 by Michael Clyde Hislop in the journal Nuytsia from specimens he collected in the Blackwood River National Park in 2014.[2][3] The specific epithet (incisus) means "cut deeply and sharply", referring to the deeply notched tip of the fruit.[2]

Distribution and habitat

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This leucopogon is only known from a small area of jarrah woodland where it grows in winter-wet sandy soil in the far south of the Jarrah Forest bioregion of south-western Western Australia.[2][4]

Conservation status

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Leucopogon incisus is listed as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions,[4] meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.[5]

References

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  1. ^ "Leucopogon incisus". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d Hislop, Michael C. (2015). "Description of a new short-range endemic and a replacement name in Leucopogon (Ericaceae: Styphelioideae: Styphelieae)". Nuytsia. 25: 151. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Leucopogon incisus". APNI. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b "Leucopogon incisus". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  5. ^ "Conservation codes for Western Australian Flora and Fauna" (PDF). Government of Western Australia Department of Parks and Wildlife. Retrieved 29 December 2022.