Spike Beard-heath

Leucopogon australis is an erect, aromatic shrub that typically grows to a height of 1–2 m (3 ft 3 in – 6 ft 7 in) and has glabrous branchlets. The leaves are more or less glabrous, narrowly egg-shaped to narrowly elliptic, 10–85 mm (0.39–3.35 in) long and 2–10 mm (0.079–0.394 in) wide on a petiole 0.6–1.5 mm (0.024–0.059 in) long. The flowers are arranged in groups of 8 to 28 and 8–34 mm (0.31–1.34 in) long on the ends of branchlets, or in upper leaf axils, with egg-shaped bracts 0.7–1 mm (0.028–0.039 in) long and similar bracteoles. The sepals are egg-shaped, 1.2–1.9 mm (0.047–0.075 in) long and yellowish. The petals are joined at the base to form a bell-shaped tube about as long as the sepals, the lobes white and 2.3–2.7 mm (0.091–0.106 in) long and densely bearded on the inside. Flowering occurs from September to November and the fruit is a flattened spherical drupe 1.8–2.2 mm (0.071–0.087 in) long.

This leucopogon grows in the understorey of forest in wetter places within 100 km (62 mi) of the coast of Western Australia between Gingin, Augusta and Albany, Peterborough and Yarram in Victoria, and northern Tasmania, where it is rare.

== References ==