Leucopogon borealis

Leucopogon borealis is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of the west of Western Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy young branchlets, linear leaves and white flowers in nine to twenty upper leaf axils.

Description
Leucopogon borealis is a shrub that typically grows up to about 120 cm high and wide, its young branchlets chestnut-brown and hairy. The leaves are spirally arranged, linear or narrowly elliptic, 8–19 mm long and 0.7–2.8 mm wide on a hairy petiole 0.7–1.5 mm long. The upper surface of the leaves is shiny and the lower surface densely hairy. The flowers are arranged singly in nine to twenty upper leaf axils 8–28 mm from the ends of branchlets, with egg-shaped bracts 1.3–1.8 mm long and similar slightly longer bracteoles. The sepals are egg-shaped, 2.5–3.2 mm long with a purplish tinge. The petals are white and joined at the base to form a bell-shaped tube 1.0–1.5 mm long and shorter than the sepals, the lobes white and 2.5–3.6 mm long. Flowering mainly occurs from July to October and the fruit is a glabrous drupe 1.6–1.8 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Leucopogon borealis was first formally described in 2007 by Michael Clyde Hislop and Alex R. Chapman in the journal Nuytsia from specimens collected by Alex George north of Geraldton in 1993. The specific epithet (borealis) means "northern", referring to the distribution of this leucopogon, compared to others in the genus.

Distribution and habitat
This leucopogon usually grows in low, dense heath on the Moresby Range between Geraldton and Northampton in the Geraldton Sandplains bioregion in the west of Western Australia.

Conservation status
Leucopogon borealis is classified as "Priority Two" by the Western Australian Government Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, meaning that it is poorly known and from only one or a few locations.