Styphelia tenuiflora

Styphelia tenuiflora, commonly known as common pinheath,^[2] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with broadly egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves and whitish-cream, tube-shaped flowers with hairy lobes.

Styphelia tenuiflora
In Wandoo National Park
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Ericales
Family:	Ericaceae
Genus:	Styphelia
Species:	S. tenuiflora
Binomial name
Styphelia tenuiflora Lindl.[1]
Synonyms[1]
Soleniscia elegans DC. Styphelia elegans (DC.) Sond. Styphelia elegans var. brevior Ewart & Jean White Styphelia elegans var. lanceolata Sond.

Description

Styphelia tenuiflora is an erect, bushy, rigid, glabrous shrub that typically grows up to 0.2–1 m (7.9 in – 3 ft 3.4 in) high. The leaves are egg-shaped to broadly lance-shaped, about 12 mm (0.47 in) long with a short, almost sessile with a sharply pointed tip. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, with bracteoles up to 2 mm (0.079 in) long at the base. The sepals are about 5 mm (0.20 in) long, and the petals are creamy white and joined at the base forming a narrow tube 12 mm (0.47 in) long with hairy lobes.^[3]

Taxonomy

Styphelia tenuiflora was first formally described in 1839 by John Lindley in his A Sketch of the Vegetation of the Swan River Colony.^[4][5] The specific epithet (tenuiflora) means "thin-flowered".^[6]

Distribution

Common pinheath grows on gravelly lateritic soil in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee and Swan Coastal Plain bioregions of south-western Western Australia.^[2]

Conservation status

Styphelia tenuiflora is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.^[2]