Leptospermum glaucescens
Smoky Tea Tree
Smoky Tea Tree
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Rosids > Myrtaceae > Leptospermum glaucescens
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Common name: Smoky Tea Tree
Also, the blue-green tea tree
Conservation status: Least concern
It is widespread in Tasmania
Etymology:
Flowers
The flowers are arranged singly in consecutive leaf axils on a stout pedicel and are about 15 mm in diameter
There are broad, brownish bracts at the base of the flower bud but that fall off as the flower develops
The floral cup is 3–3.5 mm long and usually densely hairy
The sepals are broadly egg-shaped to triangular, 1.5–2.5 mm long, the petals white, 4–7 mm long and the stamens about 1.5 mm long
Flowering occurs from January to February
Fruit:
The fruit is a capsule 4–5 mm wide, remains on the plant for some time after maturity and has the sepals attached
Leaves:
It has elliptical to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, mostly about 10 mm long, 3–6 mm wide
Greyish green, tapering to a petiole about 1 mm long
Stem & branches:
Has flaky bark and young stems that are hairy
Roots:
Habit:
A shrub or small tree
Habitat:
Grows in wet heath
Distribution:
Endemic to Tasmania where it is widespread
Additional notes:
Taxonomy and naming
Leptospermum glaucescens was first formally described in 1841 by Sebastian Schauer in the journal Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde
Schauer's description was based on specimens grown in the botanic garden in Breslau from seed donated by Berlin Botanic Garden, but extensive searches have failed to locate Schauer's type specimens
The neotype is "virgate shrubs to 3 m high dominating damp sandy heathland" at the western foot of the Strzelecki Peaks on the south-west of Flinders Island in Tasmania
In 1806, Jacques Labillardière described Leptospermum sericeum in Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen from specimens collected "in capite Van-Diemen" and this name was applied to plants collected in Tasmania
However, Labillardière had confused "Van-Diemen" with "Terre Van-Leuwin", and although he later made the correction on the herbarium sheet in Paris, the name L. sericeum continued to be applied to plants collected in Tasmania
Although in 1844 Johannes Conrad Schauer noted in Plantae Preissianae (in Latin) "in Van Leuwin's Land, not on Van Diemen's Island", the correction was not made until 1967 with the publication of James Hamlyn Willis's paper in the journal Muelleria
Leptospermum sericeum is a Western Australian endemic, found near Esperance, which has pink, sessile flowers and does not grow to the height of L. glaucescens
Sources of information: