''Stenanthera conostephioides'', commonly known as flame heath, is a species of small shrub that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to south-eastern continental Australia. It has linear to lance-shaped leaves, red, tubular flowers and green, oval fruit turning dark red.

Description

''Stenanthera conostephioides'' is an erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of . The leaves are thick, linear to lance-shaped, long and wide, with a pointed tip long. The flowers are red and occur singly, pendent and tube-like, more or less cylindrical and long. There are brownish

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

s long and bracteoles long at the base of the flower, and the

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s are brownish . The

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

lobes are densely hairy on the inside near their tips. The

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

project beyond the end of the petal tube and the style is long. The fruit is oval, about long and green tinged with maroon, later dark red. Flowering occurs from March to November.

Taxonomy and naming

''Stenanthera conostephioides'' was first formally described in 1845 by Otto Wilhelm Sonder in Lehmann's ''

Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae sive enumeratio plantarum quas in australasia occidentali et meridionali-occidentali annis 1838-1841 collegit Ludovicus Preiss'', more commonly known as ''Plantae preissianae'', is a book written by Johann Georg Christian Leh ...

'' from specimens collected by Theodor Siemssen near

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

in 1839. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''conostephioides'') refers to the similarity of this species to a plant in the genus ''

Conostephium ''Conostephium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. The name of the genus comes from Greek words, ''conos'', "cone" and ''stephanos'', "that which encircles, a crown or wr ...

''.

Distribution and habitat

Flame heath grows in

mallee scrub Mallee Woodlands and Shrublands is one of 32 Major Vegetation Groups defined by the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy. Description " Mallee" refers to the growth habit of a group of (mainly) eucalypt species that g ...

and open forest in sandy soil. It is a common species, occurring in western Victoria and the south east of South Australia.

Ecology

The flowers of this species form an important part of the diet of

emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q218563 conostephioides Ericales of Australia Flora of South Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1845 Taxa named by Otto Wilhelm Sonder