''Leucopogon cordifolius'', commonly known as heart-leaved beard-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 Australia. It is an erect shrub with broadly egg-shaped to round leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers, the petals bearded on the inside.

Description

''Leucopogon cordifolius'' is an erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has softly-hairy branchlets. Its leaves are broadly egg-shaped to round, long and wide and curve downwards with a short bristle on the tip. The flowers are arranged in spikes long in leaf axils, each spike with up to three flowers with broadly egg-shaped to round bracteoles 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 egg-shaped, long, the petals white and joined at the base to form a tube long, the lobes long and bearded on the inside.

Taxonomy

''Leucopogon cordifolius'' was first formally described in 1838 by

John Lindley John Lindley FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidologist. Early years Born in Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four children of George and Mary Lindley. George Lindley w ...

in Thomas Mitchell's journal, ''Three Expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia''. 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 ...

(''cordifolius'') means "heart-leaved". The National Herbarium of Victoria and Western Australian Herbarium give the name ''Styphelia cordifolia''.

Distribution and habitat

Heart-leaved beard-heath grows in the understorey of woodland and in heathland in the far north-west of Victoria, the south-east of South Australia, and disjunctly in the Carnarvon, Geraldton Sandplains, Yalgoo bioregions in the west of Western Australia.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q17242557, from2=Q65949958 cordifolius Ericales of Australia Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of South Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 1838 Taxa named by John Lindley