Epacris limbata
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Epacris
Species:
E. limbata
Binomial name
Epacris limbata
K.J.Williams & F.Duncan[1]

Epacris limbata, commonly known as bordered heath[2] or border heath,[3] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a restricted area of Tasmania. It is an erect shrub with narrowly heart-shaped or broadly egg-shaped, stem-clasping, sharply-pointed leaves and tube-shaped white flowers clustered along the ends of branches.

Description

Epacris limbata is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) and has long, slender branches. Its leaves are narrowly heart-shaped or broadly egg-shaped, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long, 3.0–5.6 mm (0.12–0.22 in) wide and sharply pointed, with a stem-clasping base. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils, in clusters near the ends of branches with hairy bracts and five sepals at the base. The petals are white, joined at the base to form a bell-shaped tube 2.2–3.5 mm (0.087–0.138 in) long with five broadly egg-shaped lobes 3.0–5.8 mm (0.12–0.23 in) long. The style is enclosed in the petal tube but the anthers extend beyond its end.[2][3]

Taxonomy and naming

Epacris limbata was first formally described in 1991 by Kyle Joseph Williams and Fred Duncan in Aspects of Tasmanian Botany - a tribute to Winifred Curtis from specimens collected near the Apsley River Gorge in the Douglas-Apsley National Park in 1987.[4] The specific epithet (limbata) means "possessing a border".[5]

Distribution and habitat

Bordered heath usually grows in the ecotone between marshland and heathy forest and is restricted to a small part of the catchments of the Apsley and Swan Rivers south-west of Bicheno in eastern Tasmania.[2][6]

Conservation status

Epacris limbata is listed as "critically endangered" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and as "endangered" under the Tasmanian Government Threatened Species Protection Act 1995. The main threats to the species include inappropriate fire regimes and disease caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Epacris limbata". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Epacris limbata" (PDF). Tasmanian Government Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Epacris limbata (Border Heath)". Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  4. ↑ "Epacris limbata". APNI. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  5. ↑ Sharr, Francis Aubi; George, Alex (2019). Western Australian Plant Names and Their Meanings (3rd ed.). Kardinya, WA: Four Gables Press. p. 240. ISBN 9780958034180.
  6. ↑ Jordan, Greg. "Epacris limbata". University of Tasmania. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
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