Astroloma pinifolium, commonly known as Pine Heath, is small prostrate shrub or groundcover in the family Ericaceae

Ericaceae

The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...

 endemic to eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Taxonomy

It was initially described by the botanist Robert Brown in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae as Stenanthera pinifolia, before being assigned to the genus Astroloma by George Bentham in his work Flora Australiensis in 1868. The specific name is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 words pinus "pine" and folium "leaf".

Description

Astroloma pinifolium grows as a spreading shrub 30 cm to 1 m (12-40 in) high and 0.5 to 1.5 m (20 in to 5 ft) across. Its hairy stems are densely packed with pine-like leaves 1-3 cm (0.4-1.2 in) long. The tubular flowers are up to 2 cm (0.8 in) long and appear from August to April, and are found singly along the stems, either yellow or pink with a band of yellow, green at the tip, and tapered at both ends. Flowers are followed by pale green globular berries around 0.5 cm (0.2 in) in diameter.

Distribution and habitat

Pine heath is found from the north coast of New South Wales, from Evans Head south along the coast, Southern Tablelands and great divide into Victoria and Tasmania. It grows in open forest and heathland on well-drained sandy soils, where it co-occurs with
such species as Eucalyptus sieberi

Eucalyptus sieberi

Eucalyptus sieberi, the Silvertop Ash or Black Ash is a common eucalyptus tree of south eastern Australia. The range of distribution is in the higher rainfall areas, from near sea level to high altitude...

, E. globoidea

Eucalyptus globoidea

Eucalyptus globoidea, known by the common name White Stringybark, is a tree native to eastern Australia. It has thick, fibrous bark usually colored light gray over reddish brown. It is also known for its distinctive glossy green leaves in its adult life...

, and Angophora costata

Angophora costata

Angophora costata is a common woodland and forest tree of Eastern Australia and is known by a variety of names including smooth-barked apple, rose gum, rose apple or Sydney red gum. It grows primarily on sandstone soils, usually on headlands, plateaus or other elevated areas. A...

in the former habitat, and Allocasuarina distyla

Allocasuarina distyla

Allocasuarina distyla, or Scrub She-Oak, is a shrub or small tree of the She-oak family Casuarinaceae endemic to New South Wales....

and Banksia ericifolia

Banksia ericifolia

Banksia ericifolia, the Heath-leaved Banksia , is a species of woody shrub of the Proteaceae family native to Australia. It grows in two separate regions of Central and Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range...

in the latter.

Ecology

The Tasmanian subspecies of the Grey Currawong (known locally as Clinking Currawong or Black Jay) appears especially fond of the berries. One observer noting how sluggish and quiet the normally noisy birds were, wondered whether there was some narcotic effect the plant imparted on the birds.

Cultivation

Astroloma pinifolium can be grown in well-drained soils or in containers in part shade, and propagated from cuttings.