Sprengelia incarnata

Last updated

Sprengelia incarnata
Sprengelia incarnata 2.jpg
In the Royal National Park
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Sprengelia
Species:
S. incarnata
Binomial name
Sprengelia incarnata
Synonyms [1]
  • Poiretia cucullata Cav.
  • Sprengelia incarnataSm. f. incarnata
  • Sprengelia incarnataSm. var. incarnata
Elongated flower clusters Elongated cluster of Spengelia incarnata flowers.jpg
Elongated flower clusters
Smooth, reddish stems Smooth stem of Spengelia incarnata.jpg
Smooth, reddish stems

Sprengelia incarnata, commonly referred to as pink swamp-heath, [2] is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is native to south-eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is an erect, glabrous shrub with sharply-pointed, stem-clasping, egg-shaped leaves, and clusters of pink, tube-shaped flowers with spreading lobes.

Contents

Description

Sprengelia incarnata is an erect, glabrous shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–2 m (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in), and has reddish-brown to red stems. The leaves are egg-shaped to lance-shaped, 3–20 mm (0.12–0.79 in) long and 2–6 mm (0.079–0.236 in) wide, with a stem-clasping base and a sharp point 0.4–0.7 mm (0.016–0.028 in) long on the tip. The flowers are borne in clusters of 3 to 20 in spikes 7–20 mm (0.28–0.79 in) long near the ends of stems, with bracts and bracteoles 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) long at the base. The sepals are usually pink, narrowly triangular to lance-shaped and 3.8–5.5 mm (0.15–0.22 in) long and the petals are usually pink, joined at the base to form a tube 0.5–1.3 mm (0.020–0.051 in) long with spreading, narrowly triangular lobes 3–5 mm (0.12–0.20 in) long. Flowering mainly occurs from June to October or December and the fruit is a capsule 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long. [2] [3] [4] [5]

The Tasmanian endemics Richea sprengelioides and R. procera are similar, but have leaf scars on the stems that are not present on the smooth stems of S. incarnata. [6]

Taxonomy

Sprengelia incarnata was first formally described in 1794 by James Edward Smith in Kongliga Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar. [7] [8] The specific epithet (incarnata) means "flesh-coloured". [9]

Habitat and distribution

Native to Australia and New Zealand, Sprengelia incarnata can be found growing in the wet swamps and heathlands in many of Australia’s south-eastern regions, and a select few areas of New Zealand. The species only occurs in the far south-east of South Australia, including on Kangaroo Island, in the southern half of Victoria, and on the coast and nearby tablelands of New South Wales south from Coffs Harbour. Pink swamp-heath is widespread and abundant in Tasmania, where is it found in almost all wet and peaty landscapes, ranging from sea level to the highest mountains. It is considered at high risk and naturally uncommon in New Zealand, where it is only found in the Fiordland National Park and on Resolution Island. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Wilhelm Scheele</span> Swedish German chemist who discovered oxygen (1742–1786)

Carl Wilhelm Scheele was a Swedish German pharmaceutical chemist.

<i>Sprengelia</i> Family of shrubs

Sprengelia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. Plants in the genus Sprengelia are slender, erect or low-lying shrubs with overlapping, stem-clasping leaves, many bracts at the base of the flowers, the sepals egg-shaped, white or coloured, the five petals with spreading lobes, and the fruit a capsule.

<i>Dendrobium linguiforme</i> Species of orchid

Dendrobium linguiforme, commonly known as the thumbnail orchid, tick orchid or tongue orchid, is a plant in the orchid family Orchidaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It grows on trees or on rocks, with wiry, prostrate stems, prostrate, fleshy leaves and spikes of up to twenty white to cream-coloured flowers in early spring.

<i>Epacris gunnii</i> Species of flowering plant

Epacris gunnii is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy branchlets, concave, sharply-pointed, broadly egg-shaped leaves, and tube-shaped, white flowers arranged along the stems.

<i>Epacris obtusifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Epacris obtusifolia, commonly known as blunt-leaf heath, is a species of flowering plant from the heath family, Ericaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with few stems, crowded, oblong to elliptic leaves and tube-shaped white or cream-coloured flowers arranged along the stems.

<i>Daviesia nudiflora</i> Species of legume

Daviesia nudiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a bushy shrub with sharply pointed, egg-shaped to elliptic or oblong phyllodes, and yellow-orange flowers with reddish-brown markings.

<i>Leucopogon sprengelioides</i> Species of shrub

Leucopogon sprengelioides is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with stem-clasping, egg-shaped or lance-shaped leaves and short, dense spikes of white, tube-shaped flowers.

<i>Goodenia amplexans</i> Species of plant

Goodenia amplexans, commonly known as clasping goodenia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and endemic to South Australia. It is a small shrub with sticky foliage, egg-shaped to oblong or elliptic, stem-clasping leaves with small teeth on the edges, racemes of yellow flowers with leaf-like bracteoles at the base, and elliptic fruit.

<i>Goodenia decursiva</i> Species of plant

Goodenia decursiva is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and endemic to the south coast of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with dense, more or less stem-clasping, toothed, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves almost obscuring the stem, and compact thyrses of white flowers.

<i>Leucopogon alternifolius</i> Species of plant

Leucopogon alternifolius is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south of Western Australia. It is a low, sprawling shrub with thin branchlets, egg-shaped leaves with a heart-shaped, stem-clasping base, and white or pale pink flowers arranged in up to twenty groups along the flowering branchlets.

Sprengelia distichophylla is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a tufted shrub that typically grows to a height of 51–76 mm (2.0–3.0 in) with leaves about 2 mm (0.079 in) long, arranged in two closely overlapping rows, with the bases sheathing the stem. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils and are white, about 5 mm (0.20 in) long and bell-shaped. Flowering occurs in summer.

Sprengelia minima is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a small shrub usually growing in alpine cushion plants and has many branches, overlapping, stem-clasping, sharply-pointed leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers arranged singly on the ends of branches.

Sprengelia montana is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to Tasmania. It is a small, erect shrub with overlapping, stem-clasping, egg-shaped leaves, and pink flowers, sometimes in groups of up to 10 on the ends of branches.

<i>Sprengelia monticola</i> Species of plant

Sprengelia monticola, commonly known as rock sprengelia, is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to the Blue Mountains in eastern New South Wales. It is an open or low-lying shrub with egg-shaped to lance-shaped leaves, and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

<i>Sprengelia propinqua</i> Species of plant

Sprengelia propinqua is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to Tasmania. It is an erect, robust shrub with overlapping, stem-clasping, egg-shaped leaves, and white flowers crowded in upper leaf axils.

<i>Sprengelia sprengelioides</i> Species of plant

Sprengelia sprengelioides is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is endemic to near-coastal areas of eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with egg-shaped leaves, and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils.

<i>Leucopogon incisus</i> Species of plant

Leucopogon incisus is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area in the far south of the south-west of Western Australia. It is a delicate, erect or sprawling shrub with glabrous young branchlets, spirally arranged, erect, narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic leaves, and white or pale pink, narrowly bell-shaped to more or less cylindrical flowers.

<i>Leucopogon inflexus</i> Species of flowering plant

Leucopogon inflexus 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, open shrub with more or less glabrous young branchlets, spirally arranged, erect, egg-shaped to more or less round leaves, and white, bell-shaped, densely bearded flowers.

<i>Leucopogon tenuicaulis</i> Species of shrub

Leucopogon tenuicaulis is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the far southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect or sprawling shrub with thin stems, upright triangular to narrowly egg-shaped or narrowly elliptic leaves and erect, white or pale pink, tube-shaped flower arranged in large groups on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils.

<i>Leucopogon wheelerae</i> Species of plant

Leucopogon wheelerae is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the far south-west of Western Australia. It is a sprawling shrub with slender, glabrous young branchlets, more or less erect, egg-shaped or broadly egg-shaped leaves, and white, broadly bell-shaped flowers with white or pale pink lobes.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sprengelia incarnata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Powell, Jocelyn M. "Sprengelia incarnata". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  3. 1 2 Albrecht, David E. "Sprengelia incarnata". Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Sprengelia incarnata". State Herbarium of South Australia. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  5. 1 2 de Lange, Peter J. "Sprengelia incarnata". New Zealand Plant Conservation Network. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  6. 1 2 Jordan, Greg. "Sprengelia incarnata". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  7. "Sprengelia incarnata". APNI. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  8. Smith, James Edward (1794). "Sprengelia et nytt Orteflugte". Kongliga Vetenskaps Academiens Nya Handlingar. 15: 263–264. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  9. "Sprengelia incarnata". Australian Native Plants Society (Australia). Retrieved 27 June 2022.