Styphelia attenuata

Styphelia attenuata, commonly known as grey beard-heath, is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae. It has grey-green leaves and small white flowers and grows in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.

Description
Styphelia attenuata is a dense shrub usually 20-60 cm high and the branchlets have soft, short hairs. The grey-green leaves sit erect or upwardly against the stem, linear or oval shaped, 2-7.2 mm long and 0.9-2.1 mm wide, upper surface convex in cross section, 3 parallel veins on the underside, margins curved downward with small teeth, and stiff, upright hairs, and the leaf tapering to a small point. The white flowers sit upright in groups of 1-3 in upper leaf axils, bracteoles 1.1-1.4 mm long and hairy, sepals 1.9-2.4 mm long and the floral tube 1.6-2.1 mm long with soft hairs inside and lobes 1.5-2 mm long. Flowering occurs from in winter to early spring and the fruit is a small, fleshy brown-green and berry-like, oval-shaped to 3 mm long, ribbed and smooth.

Taxonomy and naming
This species was first formally described in 1825 by Allan Cunningham who gave it the name Leucopogon attenuatus in Geographical Memoirs on New South Wales. In 1882, Ferdinand von Mueller transferred the species to Styphelia as S. attenuata in Systematic Census of Australian Plants. The specific epithet (attenuata) means "narrowing to a point".

Distribution and habitat
Grey beard-heath grows in dry, rocky slopes in woodlands and heath on sandy soils in south-eastern Queensland, on the coast, ranges and western slopes of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, and in eastern Victoria.