Acrotriche aggregata R.Br.

Ericaceae

Brown, R. (1810) Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae : 547. Type: Northern Australia, R. Brown; holo: BM?.

Tall Groundberry; Ground Berry; Red Cluster Heath; Tall Acrotriche

Usually flowers and fruits as a shrub about 1-3 m tall.

Leaves small, about 10-19 x 3-5 mm, midrib absent, veins fine, +/- longitudinal and parallel, radiating from the base, apex pungent. Petiole very short, 1.5-2 mm long, but leaf bases not sheathing the twigs.

Flower buds completely enclosed by a series of persistent overlapping bracts. Corolla tube about 2 mm long, throat almost closed by hairs, corolla lobes about 1 mm long, hairy on the inner surface with a tuft of hair near the apex.

Fruits globular, about 4 mm diam., calyx lobes 2-2.5 mm long, persistent at the base, style scar at the apex of the fruit. Endocarp hard with many fibrous strands on the outer surface, seeds 1-5? Cotyledons small, located at one end of a long straight embryo and no wider than the radicle.

Cotyledons narrowly elliptic or clavate, about 4 x 1 mm. Hypocotyl glabrous but the stem above the cotyledons pubescent and reddish. At the tenth leaf stage: leaves about 8-12 x 0.5-1 mm, venation longitudinal and parallel or perhaps 3-veined near the base. Terminal bud completely obscured by the overlapping leaf bases. Seed germination time 258 to 832 days.

Endemic to Australia, occurs in NEQ, CEQ and southwards as far as coastal central New South Wales. Altitudinal range in NEQ from 800-1200 m. Usually grows in open forest or wet sclerophyll forest but sometimes found on rain forest margins.