#ericaceae

Arctostaphylos 'Ruth Bancroft'

This beautiful shrub (or small tree) came up as a volunteer seedling here at the Ruth Bancroft Garden, so we named it after Ruth. It is likely a hybrid of Arctostaphylos glauca, perhaps with A. manzanita as the other parent. In any case, it is stunning when decked out with thousands of tiny white flowers! Arctostaphylos belongs to the family Ericaceae.

This weeks microscopy features Styphelia (Leucopogon) ericoides (Ericaceae), aka the pink beard heath! This is a widespread shrub of up to 2m high that can be found in heathlands across Victoria. It has typical beard-heath flowers that are tubular are densly hairy (bearded) on the inside. The flowers are small (1-1.5mm long), creamy-white with pink tips. They’re gorgeous little flowers, a joy to photograph!

Leucopogon virgatus

18-SEP-2025