Epacris glacialis
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Epacris glacialis.jpg
|image_caption = In Kosciuszko National Park
|genus = Epacris
|species = glacialis
|authority = (F.Muell.) M.Gray{{cite web |title=Epacris glacialis |url=https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/77520 |website=Australian Plant Census |accessdate=22 May 2022}}
}}
Epacris glacialis, commonly known as reddish bog-heath,{{cite web |last1=Wood |first1=Betty |title=Epacris glacialis |url=https://apps.lucidcentral.org/plants_se_nsw/text/entities/epacris_glacialis.htm |publisher=Lucid Keys |access-date=22 May 2022}} is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a prostrate to low-lying shrub with crowded, rhombus-shaped to broadly egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and tube-shaped, white flowers in small clusters near the ends of the branches.
Description
Epacris glacialis is a prostrate to low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to {{cvt|30|cm}}, often forms roots on the lower branches and often appear reddish-purple in autumn. The leaves are rhombic to broadly egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, {{cvt|1.8–3.5|mm}} long and {{cvt|1.5–2.5|mm}} wide on a petiole up to {{cvt|0.3|mm}} long. The flowers are arranged in clusters about {{cvt|10|mm}} long on the ends of branches, the individual flowers more or less sessile with ten to sixteen bracts. The five sepals are {{cvt|2.8–5|mm}} long and the petals are white, joined to form a bell-shaped tube, {{cvt|2–3|mm}} long with spreading lobes {{cvt|2.5–3.5|mm}} long. Flowering occurs from December to February.{{cite web|last1=Powell|first1=Jocelyn M.|title=Epacris glacialis|url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Epacris~glacialis|publisher=Royal Botanic Garden Sydney|accessdate=22 May 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Albrecht |first1=David E. |title=Epacris glacialis |url=https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/ea6042a7-4bf3-4f54-bcc2-a4f62a723d52 |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria |access-date=22 May 2022}}
Taxonomy
This epacris was first formally described in 1867 by Ferdinand von Mueller who gave it the name Epacris heteronema var. glacialis in Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae.{{cite web|title=Epacris heteronema var. glacialis |url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/492029 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=22 May 2022}}{{cite book |last1=von Mueller |first1=Ferdinand |title=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae |date=1867 |publisher=Victorian Government Printer |location=Melbourne |page=71 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7223#page/72/mode/1up |access-date=22 May 2022}} In 1976,
Max Gray raised the variety to species status as Epacris glacialis in Contributions from the Herbarium Australiense.{{cite web|title=Epacris glacialis |url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/491651 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=22 May 2022}} The specific epithet (glacialis) means "frozen" or "glacial".{{cite book |author=William T. Stearn |title=Botanical Latin. History, grammar, syntax, terminology and vocabulary |date=1992 |publisher=Timber Press |location=Portland, Oregon |edition=4th|page=420}}
Distribution and habitat
Epacris glacialis grows in herbfields and grassland near streams and bogs on rocky slopes in the Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales and the Bogong High Plains in Victoria.