Stylidium austrocapense is a dicotyledon

Dicotyledon

The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group...

ous plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 that belongs to the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Stylidium (family Stylidiaceae

Stylidiaceae

The family Stylidiaceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It consists of five genera with over 240 species, most of which are endemic to Australia and New Zealand. Members of Stylidiaceae are typically grass-like herbs or small shrubs and can be perennials or annuals...

). The specific epithet austrocapense refers to this species' native range on the southern part of Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...

 in 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...

. It is an herbaceous annual plant

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 that grows from 9 to 18 cm tall. Oblanceolate

Leaf shape

In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...

 or elliptical leaves, about 4-40 per plant, form a basal rosette

Rosette (botany)

In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves, with all the leaves at a single height.Though rosettes usually sit near the soil, their structure is an example of a modified stem.-Function:...

 with stems

Plant stem

A stem is one of two main structural axes of a vascular plant. The stem is normally divided into nodes and internodes, the nodes hold buds which grow into one or more leaves, inflorescence , conifer cones, roots, other stems etc. The internodes distance one node from another...

 absent. The leaves are generally 7.5-31 mm long and 2-10 mm wide. This species produces 1-10 scapes

Scape (botany)

In botany, scapes are leafless flowering stems that rise from the ground. Scapes can have a single flower or many flowers, depending on the species....

 per plant that are glandular-hairy. Inflorescence

Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s are 9-18 cm long and produce pink or red flowers that bloom from April to July in their native range. S. austrocapense is endemic to the Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula

Cape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...

 in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, 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...

. Its typical habitat has been reported as coarse white sandy soils on low hills or intermittent watercourses. Dominant vegetation in association with its habitat include Eucalyptus tetrodonta, E. clarksoniana, Melaleuca viridiflora

Melaleuca viridiflora

Melaleuca viridiflora, known as broad-leaved paperbark, is a small tree native to woodlands, swamps and streams of monsoonal northern Australia and Papua New Guinea....

, M. nervosa, and Xanthorrhoea johnsonii

Xanthorrhoea johnsonii

Xanthorrhoea johnsonii, known as the Grass Tree, or Johnsons Grass Tree is a large plant in the genus Xanthorrhoea. Found in eastern Australia. The trunk can grow to 5 metres tall....

. S. austrocapense is most closely related to S. multiscapum

Stylidium multiscapum

Stylidium multiscapum is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus Stylidium . It is an herbaceous annual plant that grows from 10 to 20 cm tall. Oblanceolate leaves, about 8-100 per plant, form a basal rosette with stems absent. The leaves are generally 22–52 mm long and...

, but differs by the shorter leaves and absent paracorolla. Its conservation status

Conservation status

The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...

has been assessed as secure.