Common name: Red Cluster Heath, Tall Acrotriche, Tall Groundberry
Acrotriche aggregata R.Br. APNI*
Description: Erect spreading shrub, usually 0.4–1.2 m, sometimes to 3 m or more high.
Leaves suberect to spreading, usually elliptic to obovate, 8–34 mm long, 2.1–7 mm wide; margins sometimes finely toothed towards apex; lamina white and multiveined on lower surface; petiole 0.7–2.1 mm long.
Flowers 5–10 per spike, pale green, cream or white; bracteoles 1–1.2 mm long. Sepals 1.4–2.8 mm long. Corolla tube 1.5–4 mm long, lobes 0.7–2 mm long. Ovary 5–11-locular, usually 6–7.
Fruit depressed-globose, flat-topped, 3.8–7 mm diam., usually succulent, red.
Flowering: September–October
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in rainforest and sclerophyll forest on rocky sandstone and granite areas with skeletal sandy soils, north from Yerranderie.
NSW subdivisions: NC, CC, NT, CT
Other Australian states: Qld
Text by J. M. Powell, except for groups with contributors listed Taxon concept: Flora of NSW 3 (1992)
ECOLOGY
Life History
Flowers Pale green, cream or white, April--October.
Fruit/seed Succulent fruit (drupe), 7 mm diam., red, mature December--April.
Dispersal, establishment and growth Diaspore: fruit.
Interaction with other organisms Fruit edible (Cooper & Cooper 1994). Antechinus stuartii eats the flowers (Turner 1982).
Habitat
Habitat Dry hillsides, ridges and steep slopes.
Altitude 0--1000 m
Annual rainfall 800--1400 mm
Typical local abundance Rare--occasional.
Vegetation Dry eucalypt forest e.g. with Eucalyptus sieberi, E. piperita, Corymbia eximia, C. gummifera, Banksia serrata.
Substrate Shallow sandy soils, low nutrients, well-drained.
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