The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c. 4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it the 14th most species-rich family of flowering plants. The many well known and economically important members of the Ericaceae include the cranberry, blueberry, huckleberry, rhododendron, and various common heaths and heathers.
Epacris impressa, also known as common heath, is a plant of the heath family, Ericaceae, that is native to southeast Australia. French botanist Jacques Labillardière collected the species in 1793 and described it in 1805. Four forms have been identified, but no subspecies are recognised. Growing in heathland, shrubland or open forest, it is generally a small shrub around 0.5 to 1 m tall, with small stiff leaves. The red, pink or white tube-like flowers appear from late autumn to early spring. Honeyeater birds, particularly the eastern spinebill, feed upon the nectar of the flowers. It regenerates after bushfire by seed or by resprouting.
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. The word comes from the Greek sklēros (hard) and phyllon (leaf). The term was coined by A.F.W. Schimper in 1898, originally as a synonym of xeromorph, but the two words were later differentiated.
Chamomile or camomile is the common name for several daisy-like plants of the family Asteraceae. Two of the species, Matricaria chamomilla and Chamaemelum nobile, are commonly used to make herbal infusions for beverages. There is insufficient scientific evidence that consuming chamomile in foods or beverages has any beneficial effects on health.
Dendrobium is a genus of mostly epiphytic and lithophytic orchids in the family Orchidaceae. It is a very large genus, containing more than 1,800 species that are found in diverse habitats throughout much of south, east and southeast Asia, including China, Japan, India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea, Vietnam and many of the islands of the Pacific. Orchids in this genus have roots that creep over the surface of trees or rocks, rarely having their roots in soil. Up to six leaves develop in a tuft at the tip of a shoot and from one to a large number of flowers are arranged along an unbranched flowering stem. Several attempts have been made to separate Dendrobium into smaller genera, but most have not been accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.
The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and 91 species of trees and shrubs native to eastern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific Islands. At one time, all species were placed in the genus Casuarina. Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson separated out many of those species and renamed them into the new genera of Gymnostoma in 1980 and 1982, Allocasuarina in 1982, and Ceuthostoma in 1988, with some additional formal descriptions of new species in each other genus. At the time, it was somewhat controversial. The monophyly of these genera was later supported in a 2003 genetics study of the family. In the Wettstein system, this family was the only one placed in the order Verticillatae. Likewise, in the Engler, Cronquist, and Kubitzki systems, the Casuarinaceae were the only family placed in the order Casuarinales.
A heath is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a cooler and damper climate.
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat found in upland areas in temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands and montane grasslands and shrublands biomes, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils. Moorland, nowadays, generally means uncultivated hill land, but also includes low-lying wetlands. It is closely related to heath, although experts disagree on what precisely distinguishes these types of vegetation. Generally, moor refers to highland and high rainfall zones, whereas heath refers to lowland zones which are more likely to be the result of human activity. Moorland habitats mostly occur in tropical Africa, northern and western Europe, and neotropical South America. Most of the world's moorlands are diverse ecosystems. In the extensive moorlands of the tropics, biodiversity can be extremely high. Moorland also bears a relationship to tundra, appearing as the tundra and the natural tree zone. The boundary between tundra and moorland constantly shifts with climatic change.
The Sundaland heath forest, also known as Kerangas forest, is a type of tropical moist forest found on the island of Borneo, which is divided between Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as on the Indonesian islands of Belitung and Bangka, which lie to the west of Borneo.
Casuarina is a genus of 17 tree species in the family Casuarinaceae, native to Australia, the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, islands of the western Pacific Ocean, and eastern Africa. It was once treated as the sole genus in the family, but has since been split into four genera.
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It may be the mature vegetation type in a particular region and remain stable over time, or a transitional community that occurs temporarily as the result of a disturbance, such as fire. A stable state may be maintained by regular natural disturbance such as fire or browsing. Shrubland may be unsuitable for human habitation because of the danger of fire. The term was coined in 1903.
The Daintree River is a river that rises in the Daintree Rainforest near Cape Tribulation in Far North Queensland, Australia. The river is located about 100 kilometres (62 mi) northwest of Cairns in the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Wet Tropics of Queensland. The area is now primarily a tourist attraction.
Alangium nobile is a tree in the dogwood family Cornaceae. The specific epithet nobile is from the Latin meaning "noble" or "distinguished", likely referring to the growth habit.
Dendrobium nobile, commonly known as the noble dendrobium, is a member of the family Orchidaceae. It has become a popular cultivated decorative house plant, because it produces colourful blooms in winter and spring, at a time when little else is in flower. It is also one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, known as shí hú or shí hú lán. Dendrobium nobile is one of the most widespread ornamental members of the orchid family. Its blooms are variegated in colour, shading from white through pink and purple, and the many different cultivated varieties produce different sized and coloured blooms.
Chamaemelum nobile, commonly known as chamomile, is a low perennial plant found in dry fields and around gardens and cultivated grounds in Europe, North America, and South America. Its synonym is Anthemis nobilis, with various common names, such as Roman chamomile, English chamomile, garden chamomile, ground apple, low chamomile, mother's daisy or whig plant. C. nobile is a source of the herbal product known as chamomile using dried flowers for flavoring teas or as a fragrance used in aromatherapy. Chamomile has no established medicinal properties.
Gymnostoma sumatranum is a tree in the she-oak family, Casuarinaceae, native to Southeast Asia and the Malesia region.
The Dresden Heath is a large forest in the city of Dresden, Germany. The heath is the most important recreation area in the city and is also actively forested. Approximately 6,133 hectares of the Dresden Heath are designated as a nature preserve, making it one of the largest municipal forests in Germany by area. Though mainly agricultural areas border the forest in the east, in all other directions the Dresden Heath is bordered by districts of the city and reaches nearly to the city centre in the southwest.
Gymnostoma australianum, commonly known as the Daintree pine or Daintree oak, is a species of small tree which is endemic to a restricted area of the Daintree tropical rainforests region, within the Wet Tropics of north-eastern Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the plant family Casuarinaceae, often named she-oaks, members of which are characterised by drooping equisetoid evergreen foliage, and separate male and female flowers (unisexual). Superficially they look like well known scale–leaved gymnosperm trees species, such as Cupressus in the northern hemisphere and Callitris in the southern hemisphere.
Gymnostoma is a genus of about eighteen species of trees and shrubs, constituting one of the four genera of the plant family Casuarinaceae. The species grow naturally in the tropics, including at high elevations having temperate climates, in forests in the region of the western Pacific ocean and Malesia. In New Caledonia, published botanical science describes eight species found growing naturally, which botanists have not found anywhere else (endemics). Other species are native to Borneo, Sumatra, Maluku, and New Guinea, and one endemic species each in Fiji and the Wet Tropics of Queensland, Australia.
The Fiji tropical dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion in Fiji. The dry forests occupy the leeward northwestern portion of Fiji's two largest islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu.
