Lissanthe brevistyla
Lissanthe brevistyla is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to Queensland. It is a spreading shrub with sharply-pointed, lance-shaped leaves and spikes of 18 to 26 tube-shaped, white or pink flowers.
Description
Lissanthe brevistyla is a spreading shrub that typically grows to high and wide, its branchlets covered with short, soft hairs. The leaves are sharply-pointed, lance-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are borne in upper-most leaf axils on a spike up to long, with 18 to 26 bisexual flowers, with a round bract and 2 bracteoles at the base of the flower. There are five, broadly egg-shaped sepals long and wide. The petals are white or pink and joined at the base to form an urn-shaped tube long with 5 triangular lobes long with long, curved hairs inside. The anthers are long and the style is long and much shorter than the petal tube. Flowering has been observed in November and is followed by spherical fruit in diameter.
Taxonomy
Lissanthe brevistyla was first formally described in 2001 by Anthony Bean in the journal Austrobaileya from a specimen collected in the Gumigil Mining Lease, near the Bruce Highway in 1999. The specific epithet means "having a short style".
Distribution and habitat
This species grows on steep hillsides in woodland near Marlborough in central coastal Queensland.
Conservation Status
Lissanthe brevistyla is listed as "endangered" under the Queensland Government Nature Conservation Act 1992. It is not listed under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.