Styphelia cognata


Styphelia cognata is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area in north Queensland. It is a shrub with densely hairy branches, egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and small white flowers.

Description

Styphelia cognata is a shrub with densely hairy branchlets, that typically grows to a height of. Its leaves are egg-shaped to lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on an indistinct petiole. The leaves are concave, and more or less glabrous, the upper surface shiny and the lower surface dull green. The flowers are mostly arranged singly in leaf axils on a peduncle long, with bracts and boat-shaped bracteoles long. The sepals are long and the petals are white, forming a tube long with lobes long and densely hairy on the inside. Flowering occurs in all months and the fruit is an elliptic drupe long.

Taxonomy

Stypheli cognata was first formally described in 2020 by Anthony Bean in the journal Austrobaileya from specimens collected in the Port Curtis district in 1998. The specific epithet means "closely related", in reference to it similarity to Styphelia cuspidata.

Distribution and habitat

Styphelia cognata is found in a limited area between Marlborough and The Caves where it grows in woodland on hilly terrain.