''Leucopogon confertus'', commonly known as Torrington beard-heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

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 a restricted part of New South Wales. It is a small shrub with erect, oblong or lance-shaped leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers, the petals with shaggy hairs.

Description

''Leucopogon confertus'' is a small shrub with softly-hairy branchlets. Its leaves are erect, oblong to lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole less than long. Both sides of the leaves are covered with bristly hairs. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils and are erect with

bracteoles 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 o ...

long at the base. 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 shaggy-hairy, long, the petals white and joined at the base to form a tube long, the lobes long and shaggy-hairy on the inside.

Taxonomy

''Leucopogon confertus'' was first formally described in 1868 by

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studi ...

in ''

Flora Australiensis ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume flora of Australia published be ...

'' from specimens collected b
Charles Stuart
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 ...

(''confertus'') means "crowded".

Distribution and habitat

Torrington beard-heath is only known from the type collection and is thought to grow in open forest or woodland on rocky granite soil near Torrington on the

Northern Tablelands The Northern Tablelands, also known as the New England Tableland, is a plateau and a region of the Great Dividing Range in northern New South Wales, Australia. It includes the New England Range, the narrow highlands area of the New England regio ...

of New South Wales.

Conservation status

''Leucopogon confertus'' is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cultu ...

'' and the New South Wales Government '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. The likely threats to the species include roadworks, grazing by feral goats and pigs, but repeated searches for the plant have failed, and it may already be extinct.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241824 confertus Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1868 Taxa named by George Bentham