Epacris purpurascens

Location & distribution maps

Phylogeny & links to associated information:

Wikipedia links:       Angiosperms  > Eudicots > Asterids > Ericales > Ericaceae > Epacris purpurascens

Other links:

Plant  information

Common name:                Port Jackson Heath  

Conservation status:  unknown

• Var. purpurascens is rare Australian plant 

Etymology:   

• The specific epithet (purpurascens) means "becoming purple"

Flowers:                  

• The flowers are arranged along the branches

• Each flower on a pedicel about 1–2 mm long

• The sepals are 4.3–6.5 mm long

• The petals white or pink, and joined at the base, forming a bell-shaped tube 4.3–7.7 mm long with lobes 3.6–5 mm long

Fruit:                         

• x

Leaves:         

• The leaves are pressed against the stem near their bases, and are egg-shaped or heart-shaped

• 7–21 mm long and 4.4–9 mm wide on a petiole 0.8–1.5 mm long

• The leaves are concave and taper to a sharp, bristly point

Stem & branches: 

• Stems have prominent leaf scars 

• The branchlets are shaggy-hairy

Roots:         

• x

Habit:        

• An erect shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 0.5–1.5 m

• With egg-shaped or heart-shaped, sharply-pointed leaves and white or pink, tube-shaped flowers

Habitat:   

• Grows in forest and scrub near creeks and swamps 

• Var. purpurascens grows in swamps and scrubby country on sandstone based soils around the Gosford and Sydney region of central eastern NSW

Distribution:                  

• Eendemic to eastern NSW

• Varieties: 

  • Var. onosmiflora is restricted to the Blue Mountains

  • Var. purpurascens grows on coastal plateaus in the Sydney and Gosford districts

Additional notes:     

• • Epacris purpurascens was first formally described in 1809 by John Sims in Curtis's Botanical Magazine from an unpublished description by Joseph Banks

  • In 1824, Joachim Conrad Loddiges, George Loddiges and William Loddiges described two varieties of E. purpurescens and in 1901 Joseph Maiden and Ernst Betche reduced Epacris onosmiflora A.Cunn. to E. purpurascens var. onosmiflora

  • The names of the following varieties are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:

    • Var. onosmiflora has a petal tube 6.2–7.7 mm long and longer than the sepals; it mainly flowers in Oct and Nov

    • Var. purpurascens has a petal tube 4.3–6.0 mm long and up to the length of the sepals; it flowers from July to Sep

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epacris_purpurascens (2023)