''Astroloma humifusum'', commonly known as the native cranberry or cranberry heath, is a small prostrate shrub or groundcover in the heath family Ericaceae. The species 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 south-eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Description

''Astroloma humifusum'' grows as a spreading mat-like shrub up to 50 cm (20 in) high and 0.5 to 1.5 m (20 in to 5 ft) across. Its hairy stems bear blue-green pine-like acute leaves 0.5-1.2 cm (0.2-0.5 in) long. The tubular flowers are up to 2 cm (0.8 in) long and appear from February to June, and are all red, unlike the red and green flowers of '' A. pinifolium''. Flowers are followed by green globular berries around 0.4-0.6 cm (0.2 in) in diameter, which become reddish as they ripen.

Taxonomy

''Astroloma humifusum'' was initially described as ''Ventenatia humifusa'' by Spanish botanist Antonio José Cavanilles in 1797, before being given its current binomial name by prolific Scottish botanist Robert Brown in his 1810 work '' Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae''. Brown also described a second species, ''Astroloma denticulatum'', based on plant material that he had collected at Memory Cove in South Australia. It was later treated as a subspecies of ''A. humifusum'' (''A. humifusum'' var. ''denticulatum''), but is currently treated as a synonym of ''A. humifusum''. In Western Australia, the name ''Astroloma humifusum'' has been misapplied to '' Astroloma prostratum''. ''Styphelia humifusa'' is a name found in literature. Some authorities regard it 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 ...

for ''Astroloma humifusum''.

Common names

Common names include cranberry heath and native cranberry, as the fruits were eaten by early settlers. An old name is juniper-leaved astroloma. A common nineteenth century name was the ground berry.p. 8
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Distribution and habitat

The range is in southeastern Australia, from Newcastle in the north in eastern and central New South Wales, into Victoria, south-eastern South Australia and Tasmania. It is generally found in open woodland, both on sandstone and clay soils, as well as upland bogs. Associated plant species include '' Eucalyptus fibrosa'', ''

Eucalyptus sideroxylon ''Eucalyptus sideroxylon'', commonly known as mugga ironbark, or red ironbark is a small to medium-sized tree that is endemic to eastern Australia. It has dark, deeply furrowed ironbark, lance-shaped adult leaves, flower buds in groups of se ...

'', and ''

Kunzea ambigua ''Kunzea ambigua'', commonly known as white kunzea, poverty bush or tick bush, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is found mainly on sandstone soils in eastern Australia. Growing up to high and wide, it bears small white flowers in ...

''.

Ecology

The eastern bettong (''Bettongia gaimardi'') eats the fruit.

Uses

Requiring good drainage in the garden, ''Astroloma humifusum'' can be grown in rockeries. The juicy berries are edible, although they are mostly made up of a large seed. They can be used to make jams or preserves. The flavour of the berries has been described as "sickly sweet". The 1889 book 'The Useful Native Plants of Australia records that "The fruits of these dwarf shrubs have a viscid sweetish pulp, with a relatively large stone. The pulp is described by some as being "apple flavoured..."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4811591 humifusum Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of South Australia Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1797