Epacris rhombifolia (L.R.Fraser & Vickery) Menadue
| Family Ericaceae
Subfamily Epacridoideae |
Epacris rhombifolia (L.R.Fraser & Vickery) Menadue APNI* Synonyms: Epacris microphylla var. rhombifolia L.R.Fraser & Vickery APNI*
Description: An erect, virgate shrub to 2 m high; young stems red-brown, pubescent, rounded; old stems brown with raised, cuspid leaf scars.
Leaves crowded, imbricate on younger branches, then spreading down older branches to 15 cm, erect and semi-appressed or reflexed, broadly rhombic, 2.2–4.4 mm long, 1.6–3.2 mm wide, glabrous, lamina flat, apex blunt, tip mucronate and only slightly incurved, base obtuse or truncate, margin slightly hyaline, entire or scabrid proximally; petiole slender, semi-appressed, 0.3–0.6 mm long, veins not conspicuous.
Flowers white, 3.8–5.0 mm diam., spreading down branches on peduncles, 1.8–2.6 mm long; bracts and sepals white, red-tinged, ovate, margins ciliolate, sepals 1.5–2.0 mm long, c. 1 mm wide, apex acute; corolla campanulate, 1.6–2.0 mm diam. in the throat, tube upto 1 mm long, lobes spreading, not overlapping, ca. 1.7 mm long, apex obtuse; corolla deciduous. Anthers angled at the throat <0.5 mm, filaments just longer, ca. 0.7 mm long, attached in the centre. Pollen grains ** Ovary depressed globose, glabrous, ca. 1 mm diam., style short <0.5 mm long, stigma rounded, below level of anthers; nectary scales rounded-triangular, upto 1/4 height of ovary.
Capsule depressed, 1.4–1.8 high, 1.6–2.0 mm diam., style persistent.
Flowering: December to early March.
Distribution and occurrence: Bogs, along watercouses, open wet heath and subalpine wet heathland.
NSW subdivisions: NC, NT, CT
Text by E. Brown
Taxon concept: In manuscript
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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