''Leucopogon mitchellii'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae family and is endemic to Queensland. It is a shrub with sharply-pointed, narrowly oblong leaves and white, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Leucopogon mitchellii'' is a glabrous, often

glaucous ''Glaucous'' (, ) is used to describe the pale grey or bluish-green appearance of the surfaces of some plants, as well as in the names of birds, such as the glaucous gull (''Larus hyperboreus''), glaucous-winged gull (''Larus glaucescens''), g ...

shrub that typically grows to a height of . Its leaves are sessile, narrowly oblong, usually less than long, with a small, sharp point on the tip. The flowers are usually borne singly in leaf axils on a short

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

, the flowers relatively large for the genus ''Leucopogon''. There are minute

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 at the base of the flower and broad bracteoles less than half as long as the sepals. The sepals are almost long, and the petals are white, joined at the base to form a tube long with lobes almost long. The style protrudes beyond the petal tube.

Taxonomy

''Leucopogon mitchellii'' was first formally described in 1868 by George Bentham in '' Flora Australiensis'' from specimens collected, among others, by Thomas Mitchell near Lake Salvator Rosa. ''Leucopogon mitchellii'' and '' L. cuspidatus'' are listed as

synonyms 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 ...

of ''Styphelia mitchellii'' by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

. The name ''L. mitchellii'' is listed as superseded by ''Styphelia mitchellii'' by the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, where its conservation status is listed as of "least concern".

Distribution

This species is endemic to Queensland.

References

External links

''Leucopogon mitchellii'' occurrence data
from the Australasian Virtual Herbarium {{Taxonbar, from1=Q17243790, from2=Q65950086 mitchellii Ericales of Australia Flora of Queensland Taxa named by George Bentham Plants described in 1868