About Styphelia fletcheri (Maiden & Betche) Maiden & Betche
Styphelia fletcheri (Maiden & Betche) Maiden & Betche is a densely-branched shrub that usually grows no taller than 1.8 meters (5 feet 11 inches), and has rough-textured branchlets. Its leaves are oblong to linear in shape with sharply pointed tips, measuring 3.7–8 mm (0.15–0.31 in) long and 1.4–3.1 mm (0.055–0.122 in) wide, growing from a petiole that is up to 0.3 mm (0.012 in) long. The flowers are white and pendent, arranged singly, in pairs, or in groups of three in the upper leaf axils. The flowers sit on a peduncle up to 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long, with 1.2–1.6 mm (0.047–0.063 in) long bracteoles at the base. Sepals are 2.6–4.7 mm (0.10–0.19 in) long. The petal tube is 2.6–4.8 mm (0.10–0.19 in) long and covered in soft hairs above its middle section; petal lobes are 2.4–3.8 mm (0.094–0.150 in) long. Flowering takes place from August to October, and the fruit is a hairless, egg-shaped to elliptic drupe that is 3.0–5.3 mm (0.12–0.21 in) long. This species grows in woodland in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. In montane and subalpine areas of eastern Victoria, the species is represented by the subspecies Styphelia fletcheri subsp. brevisepala. The nominate subspecies, Styphelia fletcheri subsp. fletcheri, grows in woodland and shrubland, and is only found in the area between St Albans and Annangrove in north-western Sydney.
