Urn Heath

Images ©:
©Melichrus urceolatus Lorraine Oliver, Melichrus urceolatus Richard Hartland CC-BY

Melichrus urceolatus

Erect shrub to 60 cm high with branches covered in soft hairs. Narrow lance-shaped leaves with unbranched parallel veins separated by deep grooves lower surface.

Details
Flora Type
Shrubs
Former Scientific Name
Styphelia urceolata
Distinctive Features

Creamy five-petaled flowers fused to form a cup-shaped tube with sparse hairs inside.
Biology

Perennial. Skeletal sandy and rocky soils in woodlands and dry forests and mallee scrub, mostly north of the Great Dividing Range.
Native Status
Native
Flowering Time

May-Oct
Taxonomy
Phylum
Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)
Class
Magnoliopsida (Flowering Plants)
Order
Ericales
Family
Ericaceae
Genus
Melichrus
Species
urceolatus

Source: Atlas of Living Australia

From the Greek meli = honey, chrosis = coloured, probably referring to the nectaries that exude copious sweet nectar.

Interesting Facts
Similar Species

Variable species.
Native Status
Native