''Leucopogon incisus'' 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 a small area in the far south of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a delicate, erect or sprawling shrub with glabrous young branchlets, spirally arranged, erect, narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaves, and white or pale pink, narrowly bell-shaped to more or less cylindrical flowers.

Description

''Leucopogon incisus'' is a delicate, erect to sprawling shrub that typically grows up to about high and wide with a single stem at the base and glabrous young branchlets. The leaves are spirally arranged and point upwards, narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic, long and wide on an indistinct petiole. The flowers are arranged in groups of 2 to 7, long on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils, with narrowly egg-shaped

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 and similar bracteoles 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 narrowly egg-shaped, long, the petals white or pale pink and joined at the base to form a narrowly bell-shaped to more or less cylindrical tube long, the lobes long. Flowering mainly occurs in September and October and the fruit is a flattened, 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 incisus'' was first formally described in 2015 by

Michael Clyde Hislop Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

in the journal ''

Nuytsia ''Nuytsia floribunda'' is a hemiparasitic tree found in Western Australia. The species is known locally as moodjar and, more recently, the Christmas tree or Western Australian Christmas tree. The display of intensely bright flowers during the ...

'' from specimens he collected in the

Blackwood River National Park Blackwood River National Park is a national park in Western Australia. It extends along the middle reach of the Blackwood River, the largest river in South West Australia. Wiltshire-Butler National Park adjoins the middle section of the park on ...

in 2014. 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 ...

(''incisus'') means "cut deeply and sharply", referring to the deeply notched tip of the fruit.

Distribution and habitat

This leucopogon is only known from a small area of

jarrah ''Eucalyptus marginata'', commonly known as jarrah, djarraly in Noongar language and historically as Swan River mahogany, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a tree with roug ...

woodland where it grows in winter-wet sandy soil in he far south of the

Jarrah Forest Jarrah forest is tall open forest in which the dominant overstory tree is ''Eucalyptus marginata'' (jarrah). The ecosystem occurs only in the Southwest Botanical Province of Western Australia. It is most common in the biogeographic region named in ...

bioregion of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Leucopogon incisus'' is listed as " Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) is the Western Australian government The Government of Western Australia, formally referred to as His Majesty's Government of Western Australia, is the Australian state de ...

, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q51048540 incisus Ericales of Australia Flora of Western Australia Plants described in 2015