Sannantha angusta



Sannantha angusta is a species of flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, and is endemic to eastern Australia. It has scaly to fibrous bark, narrowly lance-shaped to linear leaves and white flowers, and usually grows in forest on rocky hillsides. It was previously known as Babingtonia angusta, and has been cultivated as Baeckea sp. 'Clarence River'.

Description
Sannantha angusta is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 2.5 m and has scaly grey to fibrous bark. Its young stems are square in cross-section. The leaves are narrowly lance-shaped with the narrower end towards the base or linear, 5.5–10 mm long and 0.5–1 mm wide on a petiole 0.6–1.2 mm long. The flowers are borne singly or in groups of up to three in leaf axils on a peduncle 2.5–7.5 mm long, each flower on a pedicel 1–3 mm long. The floral cup is smooth, 1.5–2.0 mm long. The sepals are broadly triangular with compound lobes, the inner lobes up to 7 mm long and the outer lobes shorter. The flowers are up to 8 mm in diameter, the petals 2.0–2.8 mm long and white and there are 8 to 13 stamens. Flowering occurs from November to March and the fruit is a woody capsule 3.0–3.5 mm in diameter.

Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1999 by Anthony Bean who gave it the name Babingtonia angusta in the journal Austrobaileya from specimens he collected near Coutts Crossing in 1995. In 2007, Peter Gordon Wilson changed the name to Sannantha angusta in Australian Systematic Botany. It had previously been known as Baeckea sp. 'Clarence River', and was available under this name in the horticultural trade. The specific epithet (angusta) means "narrow", referring to the leaves of this species.

Distribution and habitat
Sannantha angusta grows in forest on rocky hillsides at altitudes between 200 and 1500 m and is found between Atherton and Townsville in North Queensland, in south-eastern Queensland, and as far south as the Kempsey district in New South Wales.