Acrotriche baileyana (Domin) J.M.Powell

Ericaceae

Powell, J.M. (1975) Telopea 1: 425.

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub 2-4 m tall.

Leaf blades about 13-30 x 5-9 mm, petioles short, about 3 mm long. Leaf blades almost white on the underside. Venation almost longitudinal and parallel, the veins arising at the base and radiating. Midrib absent. Twigs clothed in brownish hairs.

Flower buds completely enclosed by a series of overlapping bracts. Each corolla lobe with an erect tuft of hairs near the apex.

Calyx persistent at the base of the fruit and style persistent at the apex. Fruits depressed globular, about 3-4 x 2-3 mm. Endocarp hard with many fibrous strands on the outer surface, seeds 1-3 or more, each about 2 x 1 mm. Embryo about 1 mm long. Cotyledons small, located at one end of a long straight embryo and no wider than the radicle.

Cotyledons narrowly oblong-elliptic, about 5-6 x 1 mm, petioles very short. Venation obscure, almost 3-veined. Cotyledons longer and wider than the first leaves. Hypocotyl square in transverse section. Stem clothed in short whitish hairs. First leaves with longitudinally parallel venation. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade linear, about 5-6 mm long, shorter than the cotyledons, petiole absent. Venation longitudinal and parallel with three veins more prominent than the rest. Margin clothed in teeth-like hairs. Seed germination time 325 days.

Endemic to NEQ, restricted to Mt Bartle Frere, the Bellenden Ker Range and Walsh's Pyramid. Altitudinal range from 900-1500 m. Restricted to the stunted windswept vegetation on the tops of the mountains on shallow soils derived from granite.