| Epacris coriacea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| On the Illawarra escarpment | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Ericaceae |
| Genus: | Epacris |
| Species: | E. coriacea |
| Binomial name | |
| Epacris coriacea | |
Epacris coriacea is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a eastern New South Wales. It is a slender, erect shrub with hairy branchlets, egg-shaped to more or less diamond-shaped leaves and tube-shaped, white or cream-coloured flowers.
Description
Epacris coriacea is a slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of 0.5–1 m (1 ft 8 in – 3 ft 3 in), the branchlets softy-hairy and the stems with prominent leaf scars. The leaves are thick, egg-shaped to broadly elliptic or more or less diamond-shaped, 3.8–12.4 mm (0.15–0.49 in) long and 3.2–7.6 mm (0.13–0.30 in) wide on a petiole 0.7–2.5 mm (0.028–0.098 in) long. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a peduncle 3.0–4.5 mm (0.12–0.18 in) long and are 5.0–6.5 mm (0.20–0.26 in) wide, the sepals 2–3 mm (0.079–0.118 in) long. The petals are white to cream-coloured, forming a tube 1.5–2.5 mm (0.059–0.098 in) long with lobes 2.3–3.2 mm (0.091–0.126 in) long, the anthers protruding slightly beyond the petal tube. Flowering occurs in September and October and the fruit is a capsule about 1.4 mm (0.055 in) long.[2][3]
Taxonomy and naming
Epacris coriacea was first formally described in 1839 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham of plants he collected on the Illawarra escarpment.[4][5] The specific epithet (coriacea) means "leathery".[6]
Distribution and habitat
This epacris grows on cliffs and in rock crevices from the Woronora Plateau to near Rylstone in eastern New South Wales.[2][3]
References
- ↑ "Epacris coriacea". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- 1 2 Powell, Jocelyn M. "Epacris coriacea". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- 1 2 Benson, Doug; McDougall, Lyn (1995). "Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 3: Dicotyledon families Cabombaceae to Eupomatiaceae". Cunninghamia. 4 (2): 358. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ↑ "Epacris coriacea". APNI. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ↑ de Candolle, Augustus P. (1839). Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Vol. 7. Paris. p. 763. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ↑ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 170. ISBN 9780958034180.