''Leucopogon leptospermoides'' 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 eastern Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with elliptic to lance-shaped or oblong leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers usually arranged singly in upper leaf axils.

Description

''Leucopogon leptospermoides'' is an erect, bushy shrub that typically grows to a height of , and has softly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are more or less erect, elliptic to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, or oblong, long and wide on a petiole long. The leaves are glabrous and the lower surface is finely striated. The flowers are arranged singly in upper leaf axils with white 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 long, the petals joined at the base to form a tube long with lobes long. Flowering mainly occurs from September to November and the fruit is a glabrous, oval

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 leptospermoides'' was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen''. 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 ...

(''leptospermoides'') means "

leptospermum ''Leptospermum'' is a genus of shrubs and small trees in the myrtle family Myrtaceae commonly known as tea trees, although this name is sometimes also used for some species of ''Melaleuca''. Most species are endemic to Australia, with the greate ...

-like".

Distribution and habitat

This leucopogon grows in coastal heath and open woodland in Queensland to as far south as Hawks Nest on the north coast of New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17240892 leptospermoides Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)