Acrotriche ramiflora

Acrotriche ramiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect or spreading shrub with linear to lance-shaped leaves and small pinkish, tube-shaped flowers and red, flattened spherical drupes.

Acrotriche ramiflora
In Fitzgerald River National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Acrotriche
Species:	A. ramiflora
Binomial name
Acrotriche ramiflora R.Br.[1]
Occurrence data from Australasian Virtual Herbarium

Description

Acrotriche ramiflora is an erect or spreading, divaricately branched shrub that typically grows to up 0.5–1 m (1 ft 8 in – 3 ft 3 in) high and is more or less glabrous. Its leaves are linear to lance-shaped and sharply pointed, 6–8 mm (0.24–0.31 in) long, 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide. The flowers are arranged in spikes of 6 to 10, 8–10 mm (0.31–0.39 in) long, scattered along old wood with bracteoles about 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long. The flowers are small, pinkish and fused at the base to form a cylindrical tube 2.5 mm (0.098 in) long, with lobes 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long. Flowering occurs from July to October and the fruit is a red, flattened spherical drupe about 4 mm (0.16 in) in diameter.^[2][3][4]

Taxonomy and naming

Acrotriche ramiflora was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in Prodromus florae Novae Hollandiae.^[5][6] The specific epithet (ramiflora) means 'branch-flowered', referring flowers appearing on old wood.^[7]

Distribution and habitat

This species of Acrotriche grows on coastal dunes, sandplains, granite boulders and breakaways in the Esperance Plains and Jarrah Forest bioregions of southern Western Australia.^[2]