Styphelia pallida

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.

Kick bush
Styphelia pallida on the Darling Range
Scientific classification Edit this 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]
  • Astroloma pallidum R.Br.
  • Astroloma pallidum var. suberectum Sond.
  • Leucopogon blepharodes DC.

Description

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]

Taxonomy and naming

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]

Distribution and habitat

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]

Use in horticulture

This species is not known in cultivation, partly because good cutting wood is difficult to obtain.[4]

References
  1. "Styphelia pallida". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  2. "Styphelia pallida". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.
  3. Paczkowska, Grazyna; Chapman, Alex R. (2000). The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue. Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. p. 234. ISBN 0646402439.
  4. Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1983). Australian native plants : a manual for their propagation, cultivation and use in landscaping (2nd ed.). Sydney: Collins. p. 100. ISBN 0002165759.
  5. "Astroloma pallidum". APNI. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  6. Brown, Robert (1810). Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae. London. p. 538. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
  7. Brown, Roland Wilbur (1956). The Composition of Scientific Words. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. p. 382.
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