''Leucopogon esquamatus'', commonly known as the swamp 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 south-eastern Australia. It is a slender shrub with mainly elliptic leaves, and short-lived white, tube-shaped flowers arranged singly or in pairs in upper leaf axils.

Description

''Leucopogon esquamatus'' is an erect, leafy shrub that typically grows to a height of and has

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin ''glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

branchlets. Its leaves are erect, elliptic to narrowly so, sometimes egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole about long. The lower surface of the leaves is paler than the upper surface and is faintly striated, the edges with minute teeth near the tip. The flowers are white, arranged singly or in pairs in upper leaf axils and are on an erect peduncle up to long 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 of ...

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 and long, the petal tube long and densely bearded inside, the lobes long. Flowering occurs in August and September and the fruit is a glabrous, brown, cylindrical

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

''Leucopogon esquamatus'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ''Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen'' (Prodromus of the Flora of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land) is a flora of Australia written by botanist Robert Brown and published in 1810. Often referred to as ''Prodromus Flora Novae ...

''. 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 ...

(''esquamatus'') means "without scales", possibly to distinguish it from other similar plants with scale-like leaves.Les Robinson – Field Guide to the Native Plants of Sydney, page 108

Distribution and habitat

Swamp beard-heath usually grows in swampy heath, sometimes in forest or at the base of sandstone cliffs and is found in New South Wales south from Brooms Head near Angourie to poorly-drained near-coastal heath as far west as

Marlo Marlo is a name which may refer to: People Given name or nickname Notable people with the given name or nickname include: *Marlo Dahl (born 1972), Canadian curler *Marlo Hoogstraten (also known as MaRLo), Dutch DJ * Martin "Marlo" Hyland (1969–2 ...

in north-eastern Victoria. It also grows on sandy headlands on

Flinders Flinders may refer to: Places Antarctica * Flinders Peak, near the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula Australia New South Wales * Flinders County, New South Wales * Shellharbour Junction railway station, Shellharbour * Flinders, New South Wa ...

and

Cape Barren Island Cape Barren Island, officially truwana / Cape Barren Island, is a island in the Bass Strait, off the north east coast of Tasmania, Australia. It is the second largest island of the Furneaux Group; Flinders Island lies to the north, with the s ...

s in Tasmania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17241548 esquamatus Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Victoria (Australia) Flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)