''Styphelia adscendens'', commonly known as golden heath, 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 ...

to south-eastern Australia. It is a prostrate or low-lying shrub with lance-shaped leaves and cream-coloured, pale yellowish-green or reddish flowers arranged singly or in paris in leaf axils.

Description

''Styphelia adscendens'' is a prostrate or low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to about , its branchlets covered with soft hairs. The leaves are lance-shaped, sometimes with the narrower end towards the base, long, wide and often slightly twisted. The flowers are erect, arranged singly or in pairs in leaf axils with lance-shaped bracts long and

bracteoles 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 ...

long. The flowers are erect, cream-coloured, pale yellowish-green or reddish, 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 ...

s long and the petals forming a tube long with bearded lobes long. The stamen filaments are long and the

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

long. Flowering occurs from June to December and the fruit is oval, slightly lobed, and long.

Taxonomy

''Styphelia adscendens'' was first formally described in 1810 by botanist Robert Brown in ''

Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae ''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 Nova ...

''. 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 ...

(''adscendens'') means "ascending".

Distribution and habitat

Golden heath grows in scrub, woodland and forest from south of

Nerriga Nerriga is a small village in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council. It is situated at the edge of Morton National Park, on the Braidwood - Nowra road. The population of Nerriga and the ...

in New South Wales, in eastern and western Victoria, in far south-eastern South Australia and in Tasmania.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7629764 adscendens Flora of New South Wales Flora of South Australia Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (Australia) Plants described in 1810