''Sprengelia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), 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 about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to eastern Australia. Plants in the genus ''Sprengelia'' are slender, erect or low-lying shrubs with overlapping, stem-clasping leaves, many

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s at the base of the flowers, 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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s egg-shaped, white or coloured, the five petals with spreading lobes, and the fruit a capsule. The genus ''Sprengelia'' was first formally described in 1794 by James Edward Smith in the journal ''Kongliga Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar'', later published in translation in ''Tracts relating to natural history''. The first species described was ''

Sprengelia incarnata ''Sprengelia incarnata'', commonly referred to as pink swamp-heath, is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is Native species, native to south-eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is an erect, wikt:glabrous, glabrous shrub ...

''. The genus name honours the German botanist

Christian Konrad Sprengel Christian Konrad Sprengel (22 September 1750 – 7 April 1816) was a German naturalist, theologist, and teacher. He is most famous for his research on plant sexuality. Sprengel was the first to recognize that the function of flowers was to ...

. The names of seven species are accepted 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 Sys ...

: * '' Sprengelia distichophylla'' (Rodway) W.M.Curtis (Tas.) * ''

'' Sm. - pink swamp-heath (S.A., N.S.W., Vic., Tas.) * '' Sprengelia minima'' Crowden (Tas.) * '' Sprengelia montana'' R.Br. (Tas.) * '' Sprengelia monticola'' (DC.) Druce - rock sprengelia (N.S.W) * '' Sprengelia propinqua'' A.Cunn. ex DC. (Tas.) * '' Sprengelia sprengelioides'' (R.Br.) Druce (Qld., N.S.W.)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q73572 Ericaceae genera Endemic flora of Australia