''Leucopogon lavarackii'' 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 ...

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

in far northern Queensland. It is a much-branched shrub with softly-hairy branchlets, oblong, elliptic or lance-shaped leaves and spikes of white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Leucopogon lavarackii'' is a much-branched shrub with softly-hairy branchlets, that typically grows to a height of up to , sometimes flowering when less than tall. Its leaves are oblong, elliptic, or lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide. The flowers are arranged in spikes of 2 to 4 in upper leaf axils with

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 about long and 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 long and the petals are white, long and joined for one-third to a half that length. The fruit is an orange-yellow, 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'') ...

about the same length as the sepals.

Taxonomy

''Leucopogon lavarackii'' was first formally described in 1990 by

Leslie Pedley Leslie Pedley (19 May 1930 – 27 November 2018)IPNILeslie Pedley/ref> was an Australian botanist who specialised in the genus ''Acacia''. He is notable for bringing into use the generic name ''Racosperma'', creating a split in the genus, which r ...

in the journal '' Austrobaileya'' from specimens collected by

Leonard John Brass Leonard John Brass (17 May 1900 – 29 August 1971) was an Australian and American botany, botanist, plant collecting, botanical collector and explorer. Early life Brass was born at Toowoomba, Queensland. He was trained at the Queensland Herbar ...

on Mount Tozer in 1948. 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 ...

(''lavarackii'') honour
Peter S. Lavarack

Distribution and habitat

This leucopogon grows on sand and shallow, rocky soil on Cape York Peninsula as far south as

Cooktown Cooktown is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Cook, Queensland, Australia. Cooktown is at the mouth of the Endeavour River, on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland where James Cook beached his ship, the Endeavour, for repairs ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17243386 lavarackii Ericales of Australia Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1990