Brachyloma scortechinii


Brachyloma scortechinii is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a shrub with narrowly oblong or oblong leaves and translucent, bulbous cylindrical flowers.

Description

Brachyloma scortechinii is a shrub that typically grows to a height of and has glabrous branchlets. The leaves are narrowly oblong to oblong, long and wide, sessile, and sometimes have a small point on the tip. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils with bracts about long and bracteoles long at the base. The sepals are long and the petals are translucent, joined to form a bulbous, cylindrical tube long with erect lobes long. Flowering occurs in April and May and the fruit is a more or less spherical drupe in diameter.

Taxonomy and naming

Brachyloma scortechinii was first formally described 1881 by Ferdinand von Mueller in his Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae from specimens collected near Burleigh Heads by Benedetto Scortechini. The specific epithet honours the collector of the type specimens.

Distribution

This species grows in coastal scrub and heath from south-east Queensland to Iluka in New South Wales.