Styphelia breviflora 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, spindly, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in). It has oblong to lance-shaped or linear leaves 4–9 mm (0.16–0.35 in) long on a short petiole and with a small, rigid point on the tip. The flowers are borne singly or in pairs in leaf axils on a short peduncle with small bracts and bracteoles about half as long as the sepals. The sepals are about 2 mm (0.079 in) long and the petals white and about 4 mm (0.16 in) long, the petal lobes longer than the petal tube.[2][3]

Styphelia breviflora
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Styphelia
Species:
S. breviflora
Binomial name
Styphelia breviflora
(F.Muell.) F.Muell.[1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]

Leucopogon breviflorus F.Muell.

It was first formally described in 1864 by Ferdinand von Mueller in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected by George Maxwell near Israelite Bay.[4][5] In 1882, von Mueller transferred the species to Styphelia as S. breviflora in the Systematic Census of Australian Plants. The specific epithet (breviflora) means "short-flowered".[6]

This styphelia occurs in the Esperance Plains and Mallee bioregions of south-western Western Australia and is listed as "not threatened" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.[3]

References

edit
  1. ^ a b "Styphelia breviflora". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  2. ^ Bentham, George; von Mueller, Ferdinand (1868). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 4. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. p. 222. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Styphelia breviflora". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  4. ^ "Leucopogon breviflorus". APNI. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  5. ^ von Mueller, Ferdinand (1864). Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae. Melbourne: Victorian Government Printer. p. 102. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  6. ^ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780958034180.