''Styphelia marginata'', commonly known as thick-margined leucopogon, 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 the

south-west The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

of Western Australia. It is a dwarf shrub with lance-shaped leaves and white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Styphelia marginata'' is a dwarf shrub that typically grows to a height of and has glabrous new growth. The leaves are lance-shaped, long with a short petiole, and are sharply pointed. The leaves have a stem-clasping base and membraneous edges. The flowers are white, arranged singly or in groups of up to 3 in upper leaf axils with a bracteole about one-third the length of 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. The sepals are broadly lance-shaped, long. The petals are joined at the base, forming a tube slightly longer than the sepals, and have 5 bearded lobes but with glabrous tips. The style is slightly longer than the petal tube.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1904 by William Vincent Fitzgerald who gave it the name ''Leucopogon marginatus'' in the '' Journal of the West Australian Natural History Society'' from specimens he collected on sand plains near

Arrino Arrino is a small town in the Mid West region of Western Australia. The town is located between Mingenew and Three Springs on the Midlands Road. The name of the town is Aboriginal in origin; it is the name of the local springs, thought to me ...

in 1903. In 2020, Hislop, Crayn and Puente-Lel. transferred ''L. marginatus'' to ''

Styphelia ''Styphelia'' is a genus of shrubs in the family Ericaceae, native from Mainland Southeast Asia, Indo-China through the Pacific to Australia. Most have minute or small leaves with a sharp tip, single, tube-shaped flowers arranged in leaf wikt:a ...

'' as ''S. marginata'' in the journal '' Australian Systematic Botany''. As at February 2023, the name ''Styphelia marginata'' is accepted by the Herbarium of Western Australia and by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

. The

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

list ''S. marginata'' as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

as ''L. marginatus''. 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 ...

(''marginata'') means "furnished with a border", referring to the margins of the leaves.

Distribution

This species occurs in the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

Conservation status

''Leucopogon marginatus'' is listed as "endangered" under the Australian Government '' Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' and a recovery plan has been prepared. ''Styphelia marginata'' is classified as "

Threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensat ...

" 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 in danger of extinction. The main threats to the species include inappropriate fire regimes, grazing by livestock and weed invasion.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6534233, from2=Q93467592 marginata Ericales of Australia Eudicots of Western Australia Plants described in 1904 Taxa named by William Vincent Fitzgerald