''Sprengelia sprengelioides'' is a species of flowering plant of the 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 near-coastal areas of eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with egg-shaped leaves, and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

Description

''Sprengelia sprengelioides'' is an erect,

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 ...

shrub that typically grows to a height of and has wiry stems. The leaves are egg-shaped, long and wide with a small point on the end and minute teeth on the edges. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils, with 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 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 broad, green, egg-shaped, and long. The petals white, joined at the base to form a tube long with lobes long. Flowering occurs from June to September and the fruit is a capsule about in diameter.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name ''Ponceletia sprengelioides'' in his ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen ''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 ...

''. In 1917,

George Claridge Druce George Claridge Druce, MA, LLD, JP, FRS, FLS (23 May 1850 – 29 February 1932) was an English botanist and a Mayor of Oxford. Personal life and education G. Claridge Druce was born at Potterspury on Watling Street in Northamptonshire. ...

changed the name to ''Sprengelia sprengelioides'' in the supplement to ''The Botanical Exchange Club and Society of the British Isles Report for 1916''. 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 ...

(''sprengelioides'') means "''Sprengelia''-like". (This species was originally in the genus ''Ponceletia''.)

Habitat and distribution

''Sprengelia sprengelioides'' grows swampy heath, sometimes with ''

Banksia robur ''Banksia robur'', commonly known as swamp banksia, or less commonly broad-leaved banksia, grows in sand or peaty sand in coastal areas from Cooktown in north Queensland to the Illawarra region on the New South Wales south coast. It is often fou ...

'' or species of ''

Xyris ''Xyris'' is a genus of flowering plants, the yelloweyed grasses, in the yellow-eyed-grass family. The genus counts over 250 species, widespread over much of the world, with the center of distribution in the Guianas. The leaves are mostly dis ...

''. It occurs in near-coastal areas of south-eastern Queensland, and south to the Sydney region of New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17240572 Epacridoideae sprengelioides Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1810 Taxa named by Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)