Leucopogon hirsutus

Leucopogon hirsutus is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to southern continental Australia. It is a low-lying or straggling shrub with elliptic to oblong leaves and inconspicuous, white, bell-shaped flowers.

Description
Leucopogon hirsutus is a low-lying or straggling shrub that typically grows to 5–75 cm and has intertwining branches. Its leaves are elliptic to oblong, 3–9.5 mm long and 1.5–3.9 mm wide on a petiole up to 1.2 mm long. The flowers are inconspicuous and drooping, arranged singly or in groups of 2 to 6 in upper leaf axils and on the ends of the branches with bracts 0.65–1.3 mm long and bracteoles 0.7–1 mm long and 0.4–0.9 mm wide. The sepals are 1.0–1.5 mm long, the petals forming a broadly bell-shaped tube 0.5–0.7 mm long with lobes 1.0–1.4 mm long and curved backwards. Flowering occurs from August to October and the fruit is a drupe 1.8–2.2 mm long.

Taxonomy and naming
Leucopogon hirsutus was first formally described in 1845 by Otto Wilhelm Sonder in Johann Georg Christian Lehmann's Plantae Preissianae. The specific epithet (hirsutus) means "hirsute", referring to the stems and leaves.

Distribution and habitat
This leucopogon occurs in swampy places and on the edge of creeks in the Avon Wheatbelt, Jarrah Forest, Swan Coastal Plain, and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia and the southern Mount Lofty Ranges and Kangaroo Island of South Australia.

Conservation status
Leucopogon hirsutus is listed as "not threatened" by the Government of Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.