Leucopogon penicillatus

Leucopogon penicillatus is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an slender, erect, spreading shrub with egg-shaped to narrowly triangular leaves and white, bell-shaped, bearded flowers arranged in groups of between 3 and 13.

Description
Leucopogon penicillatus is a slender, erect, spreading shrub that typically grows up to 90 m high and 70 cm wide, its young stems densely hairy. The leaves are arranged spirally along the branches and are egg-shaped to narrowly triangular, 2.0–4.6 mm long and 1.0–2.3 mm wide on a petiole 0.2–0.6 mm long. The flowers are erect and arranged on the ends of branches and in upper leaf axils in groups of between 3 and 13 with bracts 0.9–1.6 mm long, and egg-shaped bracteoles 1.7–2.5 mm long. The sepals are egg-shaped, 2.8–3.8 mm long, and the petals are white and joined at the base, forming a bell-shaped tube 1.5–2.0 mm long, with widely-spreading, bearded lobes 3.4–4.4 mm long. The fruit is a drupe 1.8–2.1 mm long.

Taxonomy
Leucopogon penicillatus was first formally described in 1859 by Sergei Sergeyevich Sheglejev in the Bulletin de la Société impériale des naturalistes de Moscou from specimens collected by James Drummond. The specific epithet (penicillatus) means "possessing a small brush", referring to the petal lobes.

Distribution and habitat
This leucopogon grows in mallee woodland and heath from near the Stirling Range to the Mount Manypeaks area and the Pallinup River in the Avon Wheatbelt, Esperance Plains, Jarrah Forest, Mallee, Swan Coastal Plain and Warren bioregions of south-western Western Australia.

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