Epacris impressa

Epacris impressa grows as a woody shrub with an erect habit, sometimes reaching {{convert|2|to|3|m|ftin|abbr=on}} in height although plants in the range of {{convert|0.5|to|1|m|ftin|abbr=on}} tall are more commonly observed. The branches are stiff and have small leaves with prickly, pointed apices that are {{convert|8|-|16|mm|in|sigfig=1|frac=8|abbr=on}} long. The flowers mainly occur between late autumn and early spring, arising in dense and sometimes pendulous clusters along the stems. White, pink or red in colour, they are {{convert|1|-|2|cm|abbr=on|frac=8}} and are narrow and tubular with five indentations on the base.{{cite book|author1=Corrick, Margaret G. |author2=Fuhrer, Bruce A. | title=Wildflowers of Victoria and Adjoining Areas| publisher=Bloomings Books|location= Melbourne, Victoria | year=2001 | isbn=1-876473-14-2|page=73}}{{APNI | name = Epacris impressa var. grandiflora Benth. | id =23924 }} The corolla of the flower is formed by five petals, fused at the base to form a tubelike structure, with the free petal ends forming five lobes at the apex. There are five whorled sepals at the base of the corolla. Within the corolla is a central style that persists through development of the fruit. The style connects the stigma at the apex and ovary at the base, where the nectar is also located.{{cite journal|author=Bailey, Peter |date=1988|title=The Flower – Part 3 |journal=Australian Plants|volume=14|issue=115|pages=295–96}} Different colour forms are often observed growing near each other.{{cite book |title=Wild Plants of Victoria (database)|year=2009 |publisher=Viridans Biological Databases & Department of Sustainability and Environment}} The fruit is a 5-locule capsule that is about {{convert|3.5|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} in diameter.{{cite web|title=Epacris|work=Flora of Victoria Knowledge Base|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne|url=http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/dbpages/dev/vicflora/index.php/viclist/name/8623|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714200329/http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/dbpages/dev/vicflora/index.php/viclist/name/8623|archive-date=2014-07-14|access-date=6 June 2014}}{{cite web |url=http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Epacris~impressa |title=Epacris impressa |access-date=22 April 2010 |work= PlantNET – New South Wales Flora Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust, Sydney Australia}} It is globular in shape, sometimes with one end flattened. Initially green, it dries and splits, releasing numerous tiny seeds.{{cite web|author=Elliot, Gwen|title=Growing Epacris from seed|publisher=Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)|url=http://anpsa.org.au/epacris7.html|access-date=12 June 2014}}

File:Epacris impressa pink 6942.jpg

The type specimen of common heath was collected in 1793 by French botanist Jacques Labillardière in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) during a voyage with Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux. Labillardière described it in his 1805 work Novae Hollandiae Plantarum Specimen, giving it its current name Epacris impressa.{{APNI | name = Epacris impressa Labill. | id =23686}} The Latin specific epithet impressa (meaning "impressed" or "indented") alludes to the indentations on the floral tube.{{cite web|title=Epacris impressa|publisher=Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)|url=http://anpsa.org.au/e-imp.html|access-date=22 April 2010}} The original mounted specimen is currently held at the National Herbarium of Victoria at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne.{{cite web|title=Floral Emblem Epacris impressa|work=Gardening Australia|publisher=ABC|url=http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s360511.htm|access-date=22 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080629042618/http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s360511.htm|archive-date=2008-06-29|url-status=dead}}

A number of specimens once described as separate species are now regarded as Epacris impressa, with no recognised subspecies. Scottish botanist Robert Brown described Epacris ruscifolia in his 1810 work Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen alongside E. impressa.{{cite book | author = Brown, Robert | year = 1810 | title = Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen |pages = 406–08 | location = London, United Kingdom | publisher = Richard Taylor and Company | author-link = Robert Brown (Scottish botanist from Montrose) | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2938981}}{{APNI | name = Epacris ruscifolia R.Br. | id =25612|access-date=5 June 2014}} John Lindley described Epacris tomentosa from plant specimens collected during the third expedition of Thomas Mitchell in 1838. Upon encountering Epacris impressa on Mount William in the Grampians, Mitchell remarked that it was "A most beautiful downy-leaved Epacris with large, curved, purple flowers, allied to E. grandiflora{{refn|Mitchell here makes a comparison to Epacris grandiflora Willd., a synonym of Epacris longiflora, not to be confused with Epacris impressa var. grandiflora Benth.|group="nb"}} but much handsomer".{{cite book| author=Lindley, John|editor=Mitchell, Thomas L. |year=1839 |title= Three Expeditions into the interior of Eastern Australia |publisher=T. & W. Boone|volume= 2 |page=177|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vqBaDgiAIDAC&pg=PA177}} Dr Robert Graham described Epacris ceriflora (which he spelt ceraeflora) from plants cultivated at the Edinburgh Botanic Gardens in 1832. The seed had come from Tasmania, the resulting progeny flowering over April and May 1832.{{cite journal|last=Graham|first=Robert|date=1832|title=Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants |journal=Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal|volume=13|pages=167–73 [168]|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25429056}} A year later, he described E. nivalis, which he called an "exceedingly beautiful species", from specimens growing in Loddiges nursery. He also noted a form with long corollas that had been called E. variabilis that was in cultivation at the time, and noted it was difficult to describe the precise characteristics that distinguished E. ceraeflora, E. nivalis, E. variabilis and E. impressa.{{cite journal|last=Graham|first=Robert|date=1833|title=Dr Graham's Description of New or Rare Plants |journal=Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal|volume=15|pages=181–84 [183]|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2498656}}

In his landmark Flora Australiensis (1869), George Bentham argued that several previously described species were in fact a single species – E. impressa,{{cite encyclopedia | author = Bentham, George | year = 1869 | title = Epacris impressa | encyclopedia = Flora Australiensis | volume = 4: Stylidiaeeae to Pedalineae | pages = 235 | location = London, United Kingdom | publisher = L. Reeve & Co. | author-link = George Bentham| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/11266456 }} uniting E. variabilis, a short red-flowered E. campanulata, E. ruscifolia, which had narrow leaves and long flowers, the white-flowered E. nivalis, and short white-flowered E. ceraeflora. He re-classified as a separate species – E. reclinata – several plants that Allan Cunningham had collected in the Blue Mountains and classified as E. impressa.

In the same work, Bentham named and described two naturally occurring varieties, Epacris impressa var. grandiflora and E. impressa var. ovata. Plant specimens designated as grandiflora had been collected in the Wimmera, the Grampians (including those previously designated as E. tomentosa) and at Stawell in Victoria. Those classified as ovata were collected at Twofold Bay and Mount Imlay in southeastern New South Wales as well as Woolnorth and Rocky Cape in northern Tasmania.{{APNI|name=Epacris impressa var. ovata Benth.|id=24101|access-date=6 June 2014}} Bentham noted that, although variable, all forms had "five impressed cavities outside, alternating with the stamens immediately above the ovary."

In his 1972 publication A Handbook to Plants in Victoria, Australian botanist Jim Willis expressed his view that dividing the species into subspecies was not feasible given that common heath is highly variable in flower colour and leaf shape, though he conceded the Grampians race grandiflora might be distinctive based on its larger corollas and coarser and hairier foliage. Currently, both grandiflora and ovata are regarded as synonyms of Epacris impressa rather than being classified as distinct varieties. The plant populations that best fit Bentham's original description of grandiflora, also known as Grampians heath, occur naturally on sandstone at locations including Mount Zero, Mount Stapylton and the Black Range. Other nearby populations are regarded as having intermediate characteristics, including those in the Victoria Range and Mount Arapiles.{{cite web|title=Epacris impressa|work=Flora of Victoria Knowledge Base|publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne|url=http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/dbpages/dev/vicflora/index.php/viclist/name/835|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606224112/http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/dbpages/dev/vicflora/index.php/viclist/name/835|archive-date=2014-06-06|access-date=6 June 2014}} Although not recognised in the Australian Plant Census, the variety is noted as "rare" on the list of Advisory List of Rare or Threatened Plants in Victoria issued by the Department of Environment and Primary Industries.{{cite web|title=Threatened species advisory lists|publisher=Department of Environment and Primary Industries|url=http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/threatened-species-and-communities/threatened-species-advisory-lists|access-date=10 June 2014|archive-date=11 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311150608/http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/environment-and-wildlife/threatened-species-and-communities/threatened-species-advisory-lists|url-status=dead}}

{{Multiple image

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| image1 = Epacris impressa white 3984.jpg

| alt1 = white-flowered shrub

| caption1 = White-flowering form, southern Victoria

| image2 = Common Heath.jpg

| alt2 = pink-flowered shrub

| caption2 = Pink-flowering form, Tasmania

| image3 = Epacris impressa red 5755.jpg

| alt3 = red-flowered shrub

| caption3 = Scarlet-flowering form, Wilsons Promontory

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In 1977 Helen Stace and Yvonne Fripp from La Trobe University studied 195 populations of Epacris impressa in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania and found that 120 consisted of mixed stands of two or more races while 75 populations were of one race only. They identified four races based on the following corolla characteristics:

• white-flowered with a markedly shortened corolla that is {{convert|9-12|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} long and red-purple anthers, usually found in sites with greater sun exposure. Occurring throughout the species range, this form is the most widely distributed.
• pink-flowered, with a longer corolla that is {{convert|12-19|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} long and cream-white anthers, in more shaded sites. This form occurs throughout the species range. Field work in Victoria and Tasmania found that pink-flowered plants in mixed populations often have pink or red anthers.{{cite journal |last1=Stace |first1=Helen M. |last2=Fripp |first2=Yvonne J. |year=1977 |title=Raciation in Epacris impressa. III.Polymorphic Populations |journal= Australian Journal of Botany|volume=25 |pages= 325–36|doi= 10.1071/BT9770325 }}
• long scarlet race, with orange-red flowers and corolla {{convert|15-19|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} long and cream-white anthers. Those from the granitic mountains of Wilsons Promontory and near W Tree in East Gippsland in Victoria flower between April and November. Other localities where this race has been recorded include the Howe Ranges and Clyde Mountain in New South Wales.
• broad pink or white, the grandiflora race from the Grampians and Mount Arapiles in Victoria. Plants of this race are taller, often reaching {{convert|2|m|ftin}} in height. White or pink colour bear no relation to corolla length. Plants from Mount Arapiles are always pink-flowered.

The long-pink and short-white races frequently occur in close proximity to each other; in these mixed populations the former tends to flower in winter and the latter in spring.{{cite journal |last1=Stace |first1=Helen M. |last2=Fripp |first2=Yvonne J. |year=1977 |title=Raciation in Epacris impressa. I. Corolla Colour and Corolla Length. |journal= Australian Journal of Botany|volume=25 |issue= 3|pages= 299–314|doi= 10.1071/BT9770299}}{{cite journal |last1=Stace |first1=Helen M. |last2=Fripp |first2=Yvonne J. |year=1977 |title=Raciation in Epacris impressa. II. Habitat Differences and Flowering Times. |journal= Australian Journal of Botany|volume=25 |issue= 3|pages= 315–23|doi= 10.1071/BT9770315}} The question has been raised whether these different forms are becoming incompatible. However, controlled cross-pollination between plants with short and long corollas showed that there was no incompatibility between them.{{cite journal | title= The Breeding Biology of Epacris impressa. Is This Species Heterostylous? |author1=O'Brien, Susan P. |author2=Calder, D.M. | journal= Australian Journal of Botany |volume=37|issue=1|pages=43–54 |year= 1989 |doi=10.1071/BT9890043}}

Pink-flowering populations have a relatively distinct genetic makeup, whereas red or white flowering populations have more evident sharing of genetic traits.{{cite report|author=Conomikes, Melanie|title=Epacris impressa Labil: Inoculation of cuttings with ericoid mycorrhizal fungus and DNA fingerprinting of floral races – Final Report to the Australian Flora Foundation|date=February 2008|url=http://www.aff.org.au/Conomikes_Epacris_final.pdf|access-date=22 April 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090912184337/http://www.aff.org.au/Conomikes_Epacris_final.pdf|archive-date=12 September 2009}} Research based on DNA profiling has revealed substantial genetic diversity within and between flower colour races and site populations. This has implications for vegetation projects in that provenance material needs to be collected from a wide geographic area to maintain this diversity.{{Cite journal | last1= Conomikes | first1= Melanie | last2= Moore | first2= Gregory M. | last3= McLean | first3= Cassandra | year= 2012 | title= Genetic Analysis Reveals a Wide Regional Provenance Distribution for Epacris impressa | journal= Muelleria | volume= 30 | issue= 2 | pages= 175–82 | doi= 10.5962/p.292247 | s2cid= 251006909 | url= http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/documents/Muelleria_30%282%29%2C_Conomikes_High_Res.pdf | access-date= 1 June 2014}}

Epacris impressa is commonly found in coastal regions and nearby foothills, ranging from Kangaroo Island and the southern Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia across southern Victoria, extending to the Grampians and the Little Desert, and northwards to southern New South Wales as far as the Clyde River in the Budawang Range.{{cite web|title=Epacris impressa |work=eflorasa|publisher= Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources|url=http://www.flora.sa.gov.au/cgi-bin/speciesfacts_display.cgi?form=speciesfacts&family=&genus=epacris&species=impressa&iname=&submit=Display|access-date=31 May 2014}} It is also widespread in Tasmania.{{cite web|title=Epacris impressa|work=Key to Tasmanian Vascular Plants|url=http://www.utas.edu.au/dicotkey/dicotkey/EPACRIDS/sEpacris_impressa.htm|publisher=University of Tasmania|access-date=31 May 2014}} Plants are recorded at altitudes up to {{convert|1,200|m|ft}} at Mount Stradbroke and Mount Tingaringy in East Gippsland.{{cite book|author1=Cochrane, Gordon R. |author2=Fuhrer, Bruce A. |author3=Rotherdam, Edward M. |author4=Simmons, John |author5=Marion |author6=Willis, James H. | title=Flowers and Plants of Victoria and Tasmania |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed|location=Sydney, New South Wales | year=1980 | page=18|isbn=0-589-50256-5}} The species grows in widely diverse habitats including sand and clay heathland, herb-rich and heathy woodland, lowland and shrubby dry forests, riparian thickets, montane rocky shrubland and rocky outcrops.{{cite web|title=EVC Benchmarks – East Gippsland Uplands|publisher=Department of Environment and Primary Industries|url=http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/conservation-and-environment/ecological-vegetation-class-evc-benchmarks-by-bioregion/evc-benchmarks-east-gippsland-uplands-bioregion|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714231658/http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/conservation-and-environment/ecological-vegetation-class-evc-benchmarks-by-bioregion/evc-benchmarks-east-gippsland-uplands-bioregion|archive-date=2014-07-14|access-date=7 June 2014}}{{cite web|title=Wilsons Promontory biogregion|work=EVC Bioregion Benchmark for Vegetation Quality Assessment|publisher=Department of Sustainability and Environment|url=http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/241955/WPro_EVCs_combined.pdf|access-date=13 June 2014}}

File:Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris female.jpg]]

Honeyeaters such as the eastern spinebill are attracted to the flowers. As the bird gathers the nectar, the pollen, which has fins, attaches itself to the feathers on the heads of the birds and is carried to other flowers, aiding cross pollination.{{cite web|title=Common (or Pink) Heath|work=Fact Files|publisher=Parks Victoria|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806124300/http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/education/factfiles/09.htm|archive-date= 6 August 2011 |url=http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/education/factfiles/09.htm}} A study in forests near Hobart in Tasmania found that the eastern spinebill arrived in the area at the same time the common heath was in flower in March, and left once flowering had finished. Other honeyeaters, such as the strong-billed, crescent and yellow-throated honeyeaters, fed occasionally at common heath flowers.{{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=D.G. | year = 1980| title = Foraging of Honeyeaters in an Area of Tasmanian Sclerophyll Forest | journal = Emu | volume =80 | issue =2 | pages =55–58 | doi =10.1071/MU9800055 | url= http://www.publish.csiro.au/paper/MU9800055.htm}} Field work in the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia recorded the white-plumed and New Holland honeyeaters, as well as the crescent honeyeater and the eastern spinebill.{{cite journal |author1=Paton, D.C. |author2=Ford, H.A. |title=Pollination by birds of native plants in South Australia|journal = Emu |year=1977 | volume =77|issue=2| pages= 73–85 |doi=10.1071/MU9770073}}

Insects recorded visiting white-flowered plants include the Australian painted lady (Vanessa kershawi) and yellow admiral (V. itea), as well as bees. Field work in southern Tasmania showed that the introduced bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) sometimes robbed nectar by piercing the base of the tube. This then allowed honeybees (Apis mellifera) to retrieve nectar the same way.{{cite journal |author1=Hingston, Andrew B. |author2=McQuillan, Peter B |title= Nectar Robbing in Epacris impressa (Epacridaceae) by the Recently Introduced Bumblebee Bombus terrestris (Apidae) in Tasmania |journal= Victorian Naturalist |volume= 115 |issue= 4|pages= 116–19 |issn= 0042-5184 |year=1998}} Epacris impressa is host to the scale insect Lecanodiaspis microcribraria.{{cite book|last=Ben Dov|first=Yair|title=A Systematic Catalogue of Eight Scale Insect Families (Hemiptera: Coccoidea) of the World: Aclerdidae, Asterolecaniidae, Beesoniidae, Carayonemidae, Conchaspididae, Dactylopiidae, Kerriidae and Lecanodiaspididae|publisher=Elsevier|date=2006|page=335|isbn=0-08-046531-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O2A8xdNN3BUC&pg=PA335}}

A field study of the invasion of the pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi into the Brisbane Ranges National Park in Victoria in 1971 indicated that Epacris impressa was moderately susceptible to the pathogen.{{cite journal |author1=Weste, Gretna |author2=Taylor, P. |title= The Invasion of Native Forest by Phytophthora cinnamomi. I. Brisbane Ranges, Victoria | journal=Australian Journal of Botany |volume=19|issue=3|pages=281–94 |year=1971|doi=10.1071/BT9710281}} Inoculation of seedlings confirmed this.{{cite journal | title=Phytophthora cinnamomi in the Common Heath, Epacris impressa | journal =Australasian Plant Pathology |year= 1996 |volume = 25 |issue=2 |page = 141 |author1=Shanahan, Kylie |author2=Weste, Gretna |author3=Guest, David | doi=10.1071/AP96023| s2cid =26679825 }} Fieldwork in the Brisbane Ranges National Park in 1985 showed that there was some evidence that E. impressa seedlings were able to recolonise areas that had been infested with P. cinnamomi a decade before.{{cite journal | title=Vegetation Changes Associated With Invasion by Phytophthora cinnamomi of Defined Plots in the Brisbane Ranges, Victoria, 1975–1985 |author= Weste, Gretna | journal= Australian Journal of Botany |volume = 34 |issue= 6 |pages= 633–48 |year=1986 |doi=10.1071/BT9860633}}

Epacris impressa regenerates after bushfire by seed and resprouting.{{Cite journal | last1= Wark | first1= Margaret C. | last2= White | first2= Mary D. | last3= Robertson | first3= David J. | last4= Marriott | first4= Philip F. | year= 1987 | title= Regeneration of Heath and Heath Woodland in the North-eastern Otway Ranges following the Wildfire of February 1983 | journal= Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria| volume= 99 | issue= 2 | pages= 51–88| url= http://cedric.slv.vic.gov.au/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=2453893&custom_att_2=direct | access-date= 7 Aug 2014}}{{Cite journal | last1= Molnar | first1= Cathy D. | last2= Fletcher | first2= Daintree | last3= Parsons | first3= Robert F. | year= 1989 | title= Relationships between heath and Leptospermum laevigatum scrub at Sandringham, Victoria | journal= Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria | volume= 101 | pages= 77–87 | url= http://cedric.slv.vic.gov.au/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=2540571&custom_att_2=direct | access-date= 7 Aug 2014 }} Fieldwork in heathland in the Otway Ranges in the years following the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires showed that large numbers of E. impressa seedlings appeared in some areas, and that flowering took place as early as the second year after the fire.

The roots of Epacris impressa are colonized by fungi forming ericoid mycorrhiza. It is believed that the fungal species vary between regions.{{cite journal|author1=McLean, C. |author2=Lawrie, A.C. |title=Patterns of Root Colonization in Epacridaceous Plants Collected from Different Sites|journal=Annals of Botany|year=1996|volume=77|issue=4|pages=405–412 |doi=10.1006/anbo.1996.0049|doi-access=free}}

File:Epacris impressa - Paxton.jpg

Propagated from seed collected by William Baxter in southern Australia, common heath was introduced into cultivation in England by the Clapton Nursery in 1825.{{cite book|author= Joseph Paxton|title=Paxton's Magazine of Botany, and Register of Flowering Plants|volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6C8FAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA97|year=1836|publisher=Orr and Smith|page=97}} Due to its frost-tenderness, it was mostly restricted to greenhouse cultivation. In 1873, a variety known as Epacris impressa alba was recorded as being grown commercially for cut flowers in Boston in the United States.{{cite journal|author=Harding, W.T. |title=Observations and Recollections of New Holland|journal=The Gardener's Monthly and Horticultural Advertiser|volume=15|year=1873|pages=173–175|publisher=Charles Marot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SwCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA173}} While initially popular – over seventy cultivars appeared in the literature at the time – most have since disappeared.{{cite book |author1=Elliot Rodger W. |author2=Jones, David L. |author3=Blake, Trevor |title=Encyclopaedia of Australian Plants Suitable for Cultivation:Volume 3 – Ce-Er|year=1984|pages=412–20|publisher=Lothian Press |location=Port Melbourne |isbn=0-85091-167-2}}

Plants grow best in a moist but well-drained, acidic soil, with added peat being helpful.{{cite journal|last=Marriott|first=Neil|date=1988|title=Epacris impressa|journal=Australian Plants|volume=14|issue=115|page=293}} They may be grown in coastal gardens in a sheltered position,{{cite book|author=Greig, Denise | title=The Australian Gardener's Wildflower Catalogue| page=152 | publisher=Angus & Robertson|location= Australia | year=1987 | isbn=0-207-15460-0}} and generally require some degree of shade. Once established, plants can tolerate short dry spells. As they age, plants may become straggly, but benefit from hard pruning after fertilizing and watering, which promotes compact, bushier growth. Common heath can be short-lived and difficult to transplant, though it can be readily grown as a pot plant. Along with other members of the genus, Epacris impressa initially proved difficult to grow and maintain on original soil in the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra.{{cite journal|last=Butler|first=Geoff|date=1984|title=National Botanic Gardens Rockery|journal=Australian Plants|volume=12|issue=99 |pages=315–19}}

Propagation both by seed and cuttings is difficult, reducing potential production by plant nurseries. Germination rates of soil-stored seeds have been found to increase substantially with the application of heat and aqueous solutions of smoke.{{Cite journal | last1= Enright | first1= Neal J. | last2= Kintrup | first2= A. | title= Effects of smoke, heat and charred wood on the germination of dormant soil-stored seeds from a Eucalyptus baxteri heathy-woodland in Victoria, SE Australia | journal= Austral Ecology | year= 2001 | volume= 26 | issue= 2 | pages= 132–41 | doi= 10.1046/j.1442-9993.2001.01096.x }} The most satisfactory results from cuttings can be achieved by using tip growth, taken six weeks after the cessation of flowering, and kept under a fogging system for twenty weeks. Plantsman Neil Marriott recommends semi-hardened cutting material taken in spring and autumn. Roots of cuttings are brittle and easily damaged.

The following forms have been selected and grown for cultivation:

;'Bega'

This is a form from Bega in southern New South Wales that has bright red flowers and grows to {{convert|60|cm|ft|abbr=on}} high. It is regarded as one of the more reliable forms in cultivation. White- and pink-flowered forms from the same region also have horticultural potential.{{cite journal|last=Walters|first=Brian|date=1988|title=East Coastal #7: Epacris|journal=Australian Plants|volume=14|issue=115|page=294}}

; 'Cranbourne Bells' and other double-flowered forms

File:Epacris impressa double pink 8525.jpg

'Cranbourne Bells' is a double-flowered form with pink flower buds fading to white as they open.{{cite web|title=Epacris 'Cranbourne Bells'|work=Descriptions of Registered Cultivars|publisher=Australian Cultivar Registration Authority|url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/acra/descriptions/acc384.html|access-date=22 April 2010}} Registered by the Australian Cultivar Registration Authority in 1988, it occurred naturally near the Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne in Victoria, but its habitat has since been cleared.{{cite book| title=Flora of Melbourne|publisher= Society for Growing Australian Plants Maroondah, Inc. | year=1991 |location=Ringwood, Victoria|page=90| isbn=0-909830-42-8 }} A double-flowered form of Epacris impressa was collected as early as the 1860s in Victoria when Government Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller sent a specimen to Kew Gardens. This was examined by botanist William Hemsley in 1865. The specimen, labelled as Epacris impressa var. pleniflora, originated from Stawell in western Victoria.{{cite journal|author=Masters, Maxwell T.|title=Epacris impressa flore pleno|journal=Journal of Botany, British and Foreign|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sT8-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA193|volume=3|year=1865|publisher=Harwicke|page=193}}{{cite journal|author=Seeman, Berthold|title=Epacris impressa Labill. fl. pleno|journal=Journal of Botany, British and Foreign|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sT8-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA157|volume=3|year=1865|publisher=Harwicke|page=157}}{{cite journal|author=Hemsley, William|title=Double-flowered Epacrises|journal=Journal of Botany, British and Foreign|volume=55|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/36197#page/177/mode/1up|year=1917|publisher=Harwicke|page=161}} Another specimen given the same name by Mueller was collected at Nunawading, today a suburb of Melbourne.{{cite journal|author=Mueller, Ferdinand|title=Epacridaceae|journal=Fragmenta Phytographiae Australiae|volume=8|year=1872–74|pages=51–56|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/7225#page/52/mode/1up}} Charles French, co-founder of the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, collected a white double-flowered form from Cheltenham south of Melbourne in 1859 and a pink double-flowered form from Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula in about 1862. These were later sent as rooted cuttings to Veitch Nurseries in England.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5938559 |author=French, Charles|title=Double Wild Flowers |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=24 September 1877 |access-date=8 June 2014 |page=7 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Double-flowered forms of various colours have since been found throughout Victoria, but only single plants have been observed in any location, and they are still regarded as a rarity.{{cite journal|author=Clifford, H.T.|title=Notes on the Common Heath (Epacris impressa)|journal=The Victorian Naturalist|date=December 1949|volume=66|issue=9|pages=143–46|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/ia/VictorianNatura66Fiel#page/152/mode/1up}} A naturally occurring form of the variety grandiflora with rosebud-like double flowers is also grown.{{cite book|author1=Molyneux, Bill |author2=Forrester, Sue |title=The Austraflora Handbook: a Guide to Selecting and Growing Australian Plants|year=1984|page=26|publisher=Austraflora Nurseries|location=Montrose, Victoria|isbn=0-9590474-0-9}}

;'Spring Pink'

A form with deep pink flowers on long spikes, 'Spring Pink' appears in spring. It grows to {{convert|60|cm|ft|abbr=on}} high.

In 1951, at a meeting of representatives of government and other bodies, it was agreed that the pink form of the common heath, the "pink heath", be adopted as the official floral emblem for the state of Victoria. Victoria was the first Australian state to adopt a floral emblem.{{cite web |last=Boden |first=Anne |title=Common Heath |work=Floral Emblems of Australia |publisher=Australian National Botanic Gardens and Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/emblems/vic.emblem.html |access-date=22 April 2010}} The proclamation, made on 11 November 1958 by the Governor, Dallas Brooks, was as follows:

{{quote|I, the Governor of the State of Victoria, in the Commonwealth of Australia, by and with the advice of the Executive Council of the said State, do by this my Proclamation declare that the Pink Form of the Common Heath, Epacris impressa Labill., be adopted as the Floral Emblem for the State of Victoria"{{Cite journal|author=Brooks, Dallas |title=Floral Emblem for the State of Victoria|journal=Victoria Government Gazette|date=12 November 1958|issue=98|page=3572|url=http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/view.cgi?year=1958&class=general&page_num=3571&state=V&classNum=G98|access-date=23 April 2010}}}}

An Australian stamp series of state floral emblems was issued in 1968. The pink heath was featured on the 13 cent stamp.{{cite web |title=Epacris impressa |work=Australian Plants on Postage Stamps |publisher=Australian National Botanic Gardens |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/stamps/stamp.455.html |access-date=22 April 2010}} In 2014, a 70-cent stamp labelled as "Common Heath" was issued.{{cite web |title=Epacris impressa |work=Australian Plants on Postage Stamps |publisher=Australian National Botanic Gardens |url=http://www.anbg.gov.au/stamps/stamp-epacris-impressa-2014.html |access-date=29 May 2014}} The pink heath is also depicted on the Victorian driver's licence.{{cite news |title=Scientist warns on state emblem lost to freeway |last=Silkstone |first=Dan |url= http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/scientist-warns-on-state-emblem-lost-to-freeway/2005/07/31/1122748527229.html|work=The Age |date= 1 August 2005 |access-date=15 April 2012}} In 1973, a depiction of pink heath was added to the armorial bearings for Victoria.{{cite web |title=Parliament of Victoria Crest |publisher=Parliament of Victoria |url=http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/about/the-parliamentary-system/symbols |access-date=1 June 2014}}

• Erica – African–European heath spp.

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impressa

Category:Ericales of Australia

Category:Flora of New South Wales

Category:Flora of South Australia

Category:Flora of Victoria (state)

Category:Flora of Tasmania

Category:Plants described in 1805

Category:Symbols of Victoria