User:Edrinnan/sandbox

Leptocophylla parvifolia, commonly known as mountain pinkberry, is a subspecies of Leptecophylla juniperina in the Ericaceae family. It was formerly known as Cyathodes parvifolia as part of the Epacridaceae family until 1999. It is a dense shrub endemic to alpine and subalpine areas of Tasmania. It is similar in appearance to L. juniperina, with white bell-shaped flowers and bright pink berries, but has shorter leaves to survive alpine conditions.

Description
Leptecophylla parvifolia is a small, dense shrub growing to around 1m. Its leaves grow up to 6mm in length, whereas the leaves other subspecies of L. juniperina grow up to 16mm long. Its leaves are dark green, short and sharp to withstand heavy snow cover, high winds and intense but limited UV light, typical of Tasmanian alpine conditions. The leaves are linear-lanceolate with pungent point, with fine white stripes on their abaxial surface and a dark green adaxial surface to capture as much UV light as possible under heavy cloud cover. It also differs from subspecies juniperina in how its leaves have a greater tendency to curve at the leaf margain. This is to protect against water loss under windy and high UV intensity conditions. Stems are glabrous and normally devoid of leaves with a rough, scaly, brown or grey bark. Flowering time is usually September to December, with the flowers being small, white or cream, bell-shaped, and borne in the leaf axils. Interestingly, Leptecophylla species have hermaphrodite flowers, meaning they produce both male and female flowers. Each plant produces female flowers and either fertile or infertile male flowers. Only plants with infertile male flowers produce fruit. The fruit is distinguishable from a distance, in high densities of varying shades of pink and red spherical berries, and is long-lasting.

Taxonomy and naming
Leptecophylla is derived from the Greek lepteces, meaning fine-pointed, and phyllum, meaning leaf. Parvifolia is derived from Latin, with parvis meaning small and folia meaning leaf, owing to this subspecies' smaller leaves. L.parvifolia was originally named Cyathodes parvifolia in 1804 by R Brown. In 1999, L. parvifolia, along with six other Leptecophylla species, were removed from the Cyathodes genus to the Leptecophylla genus by C Weiller.

Distribution, Habitat and Conservation
L. parvifolia is typically found in central and eastern Tasmanian subalpine and alpine areas above 600m in altitude. It is commonly found on montane rocky dolerite slopes and wet grassy plains. It is less common on summits or extremely exposed areas, unless it is sheltered from prevailing winds behind boulders or other vegetation.



L. parvifolia is common and widespread in the highlands of south, east and central Tasmania. A significant proportion of its habitat is located within National Parks and reserves such as Mt Field National Park, Wellington Park, Ben Lomond National Park, Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair National Park and Walls of Jerusalem National Park. For this reason, the L. parvifolia population is well-conserved. Climate change does pose some threat to most Tasmanian alpine species as annual rainfall decreases, fires become more common, and temperatures increase. As a result, the treeline may slowly encroach into currently non-treed alpine areas. From the limited information available about L. parvifolia, it does not seem like an encroaching treeline would threaten this species, as it currently thrives in Eucalpyt understorey and in sheltered alpine areas.