| Kick bush | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Styphelia pallida on the Darling Range | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Styphelia |
| Species: | S. pallida |
| Binomial name | |
| Styphelia pallida | |
| Synonyms [1] | |
Styphelia pallida, commonly known as kick bush, [2] is usually a small, compact shrub in the family Ericaceae. The species is endemic to south-western Western Australia.
Styphelia pallida is usually a neat, dense, compact shrub but sometimes a diffuse to erect shrub to about 30 cm high. The leaves are lance-shaped, about 10 mm (0.39 in) long with toothed margins. Creamy white to pale yellow (rarely pink or red) tubular flowers are present in the axils of leaves for most of the year. [2] [3] [4]
This species was first described in 1810 by Robert Brown who gave it the name in Astroloma pallidum in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae . [5] [6] In 1824, Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel transferred the species to Styphelia as S. pallida. [1] The specific epithet (pallidum) is a Latin word meaning "pale" or "wan". [7]
Kick bush grows on yellow/grey sand, red/brown laterite gravel, brown clay to sandy clay, ironstone and limestone in a variety of habitats including flats, hillslopes, winter-wet sites and the edges of lakes in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Geraldton Sandplains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren biogeographical regions of Western Australia. [2]
This species is not known in cultivation, partly because good cutting wood is difficult to obtain. [4]
Astroloma is a historically recognised genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae and endemic to Australia.
Dampiera linearis, commonly known as common dampiera or wedge-leaved dampiera, is an erect perennial herb in the family Goodeniaceae. The species, which is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, grows to between 15 and 60 cm high, with its blue to purple flowers appearing between July and December. It adapts readily to cultivation, particularly containers such as hanging baskets.
Pimelea octophylla, commonly known as woolly riceflower or downy riceflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is an erect shrub with densely hairy young stems, narrowly elliptic leaves and heads of 22 to 45 densely hairy, cream-coloured to pale yellow flowers surrounded by 6 to 12 leaf-like involucral bracts.
Andersonia is a genus of mostly small, evergreen shrubs in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the Southwest Botanical Province in Western Australia.
Astroloma pinifolium, commonly known as pine heath, is small prostrate shrub or groundcover in the family Ericaceae endemic to eastern Australia.
Styphelia adscendens, commonly known as golden heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It is a prostrate or low-lying shrub with lance-shaped leaves and cream-coloured, pale yellowish-green or reddish flowers arranged singly or in paris in leaf axils.
Lechenaultia formosa, commonly known as red leschenaultia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a prostrate or erect shrub or subshrub with crowded, narrow, fleshy leaves and scarlet or orange-red to pale orange flowers.
Stenanthera is a genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. Most are low shrubs with leaves that are paler on the lower surface, tube-shaped flowers and with the fruit a drupe. There are three species, formerly included in the genus Astroloma.
Solanum cinereum, commonly known as Narrawa burr, is a species of flowering plant in the family Solanaceae. It has dark green, spiny leaves and purple flowers and grows in open woodland in south eastern Australia.
Leucopogon rubricaulis is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect, open shrub with narrowly egg-shaped or narrowly elliptic leaves and white, tube-shaped flowers arranged on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils in groups of four to thirteen.
Pimelea hispida, commonly known as bristly pimelea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with elliptic leaves and erect clusters of pink flowers surrounded by 4 green involucral bracts.
Pimelea longiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect, spindly shrub with linear to narrowly elliptic leaves and erect clusters of white to cream-coloured flowers, surrounded by 4 to 6 green, egg-shaped involucral bracts.
Pimelea sylvestris is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with narrowly elliptic to elliptic leaves arranged in opposite pairs, and compact heads of white or pink flowers surrounded by 2 or 4 pairs of narrowly egg-shaped involucral bracts.
Leucopogon obovatus is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy young branchlets, variably-shaped, simple leaves, and erect clusters of 3 to 15 white, bell-shaped flowers on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils.
Pimelea angustifolia, commonly known as narrow-leaved pimelea, is a small upright, slender or open shrub with whitish, cream, yellow or pink flowers. It is endemic to Western Australia.
Leucopogon pendulus 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, straggling shrub with oblong leaves and white, tube-shaped flowers that are bearded inside.
Pimelea argentea, commonly known as silvery leaved pimelea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with densely hairy young stems and leaves, the leaves linear to elliptic, and heads of white to yellow or greenish flowers, the male and female flowers on separate plants.
Andersonia caerulea, commonly known as foxtails, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is an erect or spreading to low-lying shrub with variably-shaped leaves and pink and pale blue flowers, sometimes in spike-like groups.
Leucopogon multiflorus is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to the southwest of Western Australia. It is a rigid shrub with crowded, sharply-pointed, linear to lance-shaped leaves, and white, tube-shaped flowers usually in groups in leaf axils.
Leucopogon rotundifolius is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south of Western Australia. It is an erect, bushy shrub with round or egg-shaped leaves, the narrower end towards the base, and white, tube-shaped flowers arranged in leaf axils in groups of 2 or 3.