Styphelia planifolia

Styphelia planifolia is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a bushy shrub with narrowly oblong or lance-shaped leaves with a small, sharp point on the tip, and white, tube-shaped flowers.

Styphelia planifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Styphelia
Species:	S. planifolia
Binomial name
Styphelia planifolia (Sond.) Sleumer[1]
Occurrence data from AVH
Synonyms[1]
Leucopogon planifolius Sond. Leucopogon megacarpus F.Muell. Styphelia megacarpa (F.Muell.) F.Muell.

Description

Styphelia planifolia is a bushy shrub with narrowly oblong or lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, 6.3–13 mm (0.25–0.51 in) long, with a small, sharp point on the tip. The flowers are borne in pairs or threes in leaf axils with tiny bracts, and blunt bracteoles less than half as long as the sepals. The sepals are about 2.0–2.6 mm (0.079–0.102 in) long, the petals white and joined at the base, forming a tube slightly shorter than the sepals, the petal lobes almost as long as the petal tube.^[2]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1845 by Otto Wilhelm Sonder who gave it the name Leucopogon planifolius in Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae from specimens collected near York in 1840.^[3][4] That name was accepted until 2020, the species was transferred to the genus Styphelia as S. planifolia, based on the phylogenetic studies of Darren Crayn, Michael Hislop and Caroline Puente-Lelièvre in Australian Systematic Botany.^[5]

Distribution

Styphelia planifolia is found in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.^[6]

Conservation status

This styphelia is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.^[6]

References

1. "Styphelia planifolia". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
2. Bentham, George; von Mueller, Ferdinand (1868). Flora Australiensis. Vol. 4. London: Lovell Reeve & Co. pp. 214–215. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
3. "Leucopogon planifolius". APNI. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
4. Sonder, O.W. (1845). Lehmann, J.G.C. (ed.). "Epacrideae (cont'd)". Plantae Preissianae. 1 (3): 322.
5. Crayn, D.M.; Hislop, M.; Puente-Lelièvre, C. (2020). "A phylogenetic recircumscription of Styphelia (Ericaceae, Epacridoideae, Styphelieae)". Australian Systematic Botany. 33 (2): 137. doi:10.1071/SB18050. ISSN 1030-1887. S2CID 211228418.
6. "Styphelia planifolia". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.