Epacris purpurascens
Port Jackson Heath
Port Jackson Heath
Wikipedia links: Angiosperms > Eudicots > Asterids > Ericales > Ericaceae > Epacris purpurascens
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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Epacris purpurascens was first formally described in 1809 by John Sims in Curtis's Botanical Magazine from an unpublished description by Joseph Banks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: