About Styphelia mutica (R.Br.) F.Muell.
Styphelia mutica (R.Br.) F.Muell., also known as blunt beard-heath, is an erect, straggling shrub that usually grows up to 1.5 meters (4 feet 11 inches) tall. It has branchlets covered in soft hairs. Its leaves are egg-shaped with the narrower end oriented toward the base, measuring 9.6 to 23 millimeters (0.38 to 0.91 inches) long and 2.5 to 5.8 millimeters (0.098 to 0.228 inches) wide, borne on a petiole 1.5 to 2.0 millimeters (0.059 to 0.079 inches) long. The leaves are flat and marked with 3 to 5 parallel veins. Flowers are arranged in spikes of 4 to 10 individual flowers, and the whole spike is up to 9 millimeters (0.35 inches) long. Spikes grow in leaf axils on a peduncle about 2 millimeters (0.079 inches) long, with bracteoles 0.9 to 1.2 millimeters (0.035 to 0.047 inches) long at the base of each flower. The sepals are 0.9 to 2.4 millimeters (0.035 to 0.094 inches) long. Petals are joined at the base to form a tube 2.0 to 2.5 millimeters (0.079 to 0.098 inches) long, with lobes 1.4 to 2.0 millimeters (0.055 to 0.079 inches) long that are densely bearded on their inner surface. Flowering occurs mainly from September to October. The fruit is a bristly, black, elliptic drupe 3.0 to 4.5 millimeters (0.12 to 0.18 inches) long. This species grows in heath and forest on slopes and ridges, from sea level up to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 ft). It is found in south-east Queensland and eastern New South Wales, Australia, ranging as far south as Cooma.
