Leucopogon sonderensis
# Leucopogon sonderensis

Leucopogon sonderensis, commonly known as Mount Sonder beard-heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south of the Northern Territory. It is a slender, erect or spreading shrub with elliptic leaves and white flowers arranged singly in leaf axils near the ends of branches.

## Description

Leucopogon sonderensis is a slender erect or spreading shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high. The leaves are widely spreading to almost overlapping, elliptic egg-shaped, 10–15 mm (0.39–0.59 in) long and 2.5–4.0 mm (0.098–0.157 in) wide on short petiole and with a fine, sharp point on the tip. Both surfaces of the leaves are glabrous, the lower surface with spreading veins. The flowers are mostly arranged singly in leaf axils near the ends of branches, each flower on a pedicel 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) long. The sepals are 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long, with five broadly egg-shaped bracts at the base. The petals are greenish white and 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long and about twice as long as the sepals, the lobes about 3 mm (0.12 in) long with a few short hairs on the inner surface. Flowering occurs in most months and the fruit is an oval, crimson drupe about 6 mm (0.24 in) long.

## Taxonomy and naming

Leucopogon sonderensis was first formally described in 1975 by James Hamlyn Willis in the journal Muelleria from specimens he collected on Mount Sonder in 1966.

## Distribution and habitat

Mount Sonder beard-heath grows on rocky ranges, usually at higher altitudes in the Central and MacDonnell Ranges in the south of the Northern Territory.

