''Sprengelia distichophylla'' is a species of flowering plant in the heath

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

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 els ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. It is a tufted shrub that typically grows to a height of with leaves about long, arranged in two closely overlapping rows, with the bases sheathing the stem. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils and are white, about long and bell-shaped. Flowering occurs in summer. This species was first formally described in 1903 by

Leonard Rodway Leonard Rodway (5 October 1853 – 9 March 1936) was an English-born Australian dentist and botanist. Early life Rodway was born in Torquay Devon, England, the thirteenth child of Henry Barron Rodway, a dentist and inventor of the Rodway life ...

who gave it the name ''Sprengelia incarnata'' var. ''distichophylla'' in ''The Tasmanian Flora''. In 1963,

Winifred Curtis Winifred Mary Curtis (15 June 1905 – 14 October 2005) was a British-born Australian botanist, author and a pioneer researcher in plant embryology and cytology who played a prominent role in the department of botany at the University of Tasman ...

raised the variety to species status as ''Sprengelia distichophylla'' in ''The Student's Flora of Tasmania''. 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 ...

(''distichophylla'') means "having leaves in two rows". This epacris grows in exposed in alpine scrub on the western mountains of Tasmania.

References

Epacridoideae distichophylla Ericales of Australia Flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1903 {{Australia-eudicot-stub