''Leucopogon clelandii'', commonly known as Cleland's bearded-heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and 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 the south-east of continental Australia. It is weak, open shrub with broadly egg-shaped leaves and white flowers arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils near the ends of the branches.

Description

''Leucopogon clelandii'' is a weak, open shrub that typically grows to a height of and branchlets that are sometimes covered with soft hairs. The leaves are broadly egg-shaped, long and wide and more or less

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

. The flowers are arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils near the ends of branchlets, with round bracteoles about long. 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 oblong, long and glabrous, the petals white and joined at the base to form a cylindrical tube long, the lobes long. Flowering occurs from April to August and the fruit is an oval or elliptic

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Leucopogon clelandii'' was first formally described in 1915 by

Edwin Cheel Edwin Cheel (14 February 1872 – 19 September 1951) was an Australian botanist and collector. Before being appointed as a staff member of Centennial Park in 1897 he was a gardener in New South Wales and Queensland. Later he transferred to the R ...

in the ''

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of South Australia The Royal Society of South Australia (RSSA) is a learned society whose interest is in science, particularly, but not only, of South Australia. The major aim of the society is the promotion and diffusion of scientific knowledge, particularly in rel ...

'' from specimens collected by

John Burton Cleland Sir John Burton Cleland CBE (22 June 1878 – 11 August 1971) was a renowned Australian naturalist, microbiologist, mycologist and ornithologist. He was Professor of Pathology at the University of Adelaide and was consulted on high-level po ...

near Coonalpyn in 1911. 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 ...

(''clelandii'') honours Cleland.

Distribution and habitat

This leucopogon grows in mallee scrub and heath in the south-east of South Australia and to as far east as the

Grampians The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...

in Victoria.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65941883 clelandii Ericales of Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of South Australia Plants described in 1915 Taxa named by Edwin Cheel