''Styphelia triflora'', commonly known as pink five-corners, is a flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. It is an erect, spreading shrub with broad leaves with a spiky tip, and usually pink tubular flowers with the

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s rolled back revealing the fluffy insides. It is found in New South Wales and Queensland growing on loam or sandy soils.

Description

''Styphelia triflora'' is a spreading to bushy shrub which grows up to tall with mostly smooth branchlets. Its leaves are mostly elliptic to oblong-elliptic in shape, long, wide, edges usually smooth and ending in a sharp point on the tip. The flowers are tube-shaped, pendulous or spreading, mostly pink to red, sometimes light yellow-green or cream. The

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

is long forming a tube long. The five

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s are straight and extend prominently beyond the end of the petal tube,

sepals 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 b ...

long and smooth. The finely ribbed fruit are long. Flowering occurs mostly between April and October.

Taxonomy and naming

''Styphelia triflora'' was first formally described in 1799 by Henry Cranke Andrews and the description was published in ''The Botanist's Repository for New, and Rare Plants''. 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 ...

(''triflora'') means "three flowered".

Distribution and habitat

Pink five-corners is a widespread species in New South Wales, growing in woodlands and open sclerophyll forests on moist sandy soils or loams including coastal areas north of Jervis Bay and the upper Blue Mountains.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17242869 triflora Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Taxa named by Henry Cranke Andrews