Platysace ericoides
{{short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Use Australian English|date=March 2024}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Platysace ericoides Fagg.jpg
| image_caption = In Capertee National Park
| genus = Platysace
| species = ericoides
| authority = (Sieber ex Spreng.) C.Norman{{cite web |title=Platysace deflexa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/80935 |website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=5 April 2024}}
|synonyms =
- Didiscus tenuis (DC.) M.Hiroe
- Platysace ericoides var. 'A'
- Sibera ericoides Moore orth. var.
- Siebera ericoides Benth.
- Siebera ericoides Benth. var. ericoides
- Trachymene ericoides Sieber ex Spreng.
- Trachymene ericoides Sieber ex DC. nom. illeg.
- Trachymene ericoides Sieber ex Spreng. var. ericoides
- Trachymene ericoides var. typica Domin nom. inval.
- Trachymene subvelutina DC.
- Trachymene tenuis DC.
}}
Platysace ericoides, commonly known as heath platysace,{{cite web |last1=Duretto |first1=Marco F. |last2=Stajsic |first2=Vel |title=Platysace ericoides |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/1e625976-3791-4e34-9c5a-fac6bfdc2f6f |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=6 April 2024}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a semi-prostrate to weakly erect, open shrub or subshrub with linear or elliptic to oblong leaves with white or cream-coloured flowers in compound umbels with 3 to 10 rays.
Description
Platysace ericoides is a semi-prostrate to weakly erect, open shrub that typically grows to a height of {{cvt|10–50|cm}} and has scaly or hairy branches. Its leaves are linear to elliptic or oblong, mostly {{cvt|2.8–20|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.5–1.8|mm}} wide on a petiole up to {{cvt|0.5|mm}} long. The flowers are borne in umbels {{cvt|5–22|mm}} wide with about 3 to 10 rays on peduncles mostly {{cvt|5–15|mm}} long with narrowly elliptic bracts up to {{cvt|2.5|mm}} wide. Each ray usually has 2 to 8 white or cream-coloured flowers. Flowering occurs from August to December and the fruit is about {{cvt|2|mm}} long and wide.{{cite web |last1=Powell |first1=Jocelyn M. |last2=Hastings |first2=S.M. |title=Platysace ericoides |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Platysace~ericoides |publisher=Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney |access-date=6 April 2024}}
Taxonomy
This species was first formally described in 1827 by Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel who gave it the name Trachymene ericoides from an unpublished description by Franz Sieber. Sprengel's description was published in Systema Vegetabilium.{{cite web|title=Trachymene ericoides |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/487470 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=6 April 2024}}{{cite book |last1=Linné |first1=Carl von |last2=Sprengel |first2=Kurt Polycarp Joachim |last3=Sprengel |first3=Anton |title=Systema Vegetabilium |date=1827 |publisher=Librariae Dieterichianae |location=Gottingen |page=116 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/791262#page/708/mode/1up |access-date=6 April 2024}} In 1939, Cecil Norman transferred the species to Platysace as P. ericoides in the Journal of Botany, British and Foreign.{{cite web|title=Platysace effusa |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/rest/instance/apni/497124 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=6 April 2024}} The specific epithet (ericoides) means "'Erica-like".{{cite book |last1=Sharr |first1=Francis Aubi |last2=George |first2=Alex |title=Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings |date=2019 |publisher=Four Gables Press |location=Kardinya, WA |isbn=9780958034180 |page=193 |edition=3rd}}