Epacris muelleri
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
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|image = Epacris muelleri.jpg
|image_caption = In the Australian National Botanic Gardens
|status =
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|taxon = Epacris muelleri
|authority = Sond.{{cite web|title=Epacris muelleri|url= https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/apc-format/display/79145|publisher=Australian Plant Census|access-date=21 June 2022}}
|synonyms =
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Epacris muelleri, commonly known as Mueller's heath,{{cite book |last1=Fairley |first1=Alan |title=Native plants of the Sydney district : an identification guide |date=1989 |publisher=Kangaroo Press in association with the Society for Growing Australian Plants-NSW |location=Kenthurst, New South Wales |isbn=0864172613 |page=94}} is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect, or weak straggling shrub with more or less glabrous branchlets, elliptic leaves and white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped flowers.
Description
Epacris muelleri is an erect, or weak straggling shrub with branches {{cvt|5–30|cm}} long, its stems with obvious leaf scars, and its branchlets more or less glabrous. The leaves are thick, blunt and elliptic, {{cvt|1.7–4.5|mm}} long and {{cvt|0.5–2.2|mm}} wide on a petiole {{cvt|0.3–0.8|mm}} long. The flowers are arranged in leafy clusters on a peduncle {{cvt|1.5–4|mm}} long, and are {{cvt|5.0–6.5|mm}} wide, with broad, pointed bracts at the base. The sepals are {{cvt|2.0–2.8|mm}} long. The petals are white or cream-coloured, joined at the base, forming a bell-shaped tube {{cvt|1.5–2.1|mm}} long with lobes {{cvt|2.4–3.6|mm}} long. The anthers are visible at the top of the petal tube. Flowering occurs from October to December, and the fruit is a capsule about {{cvt|2|mm}} long.{{cite web |last1=Powell |first1=Jocelyn M. |title=Epacris muelleri |url=https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Epacris~muelleri |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney |access-date=21 June 2022}}{{cite journal |last1=Benson |first1=Doug |last2=McDougall |first2=Lyn |title=Ecology of Sydney plant species, Part 3:Dicotyledon families Cabombaceae to Eupomatiaceae |journal=Cunninghamia |date=1995 |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=361 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/58705007#page/223/mode/1up |access-date=21 June 2022}}
Taxonomy
Epacris muelleri was first formally described in 1854 by Otto Wilhelm Sonder in the journal Linnaea: ein Journal für die Botanik in ihrem ganzen Umfange, oder Beiträge zur Pflanzenkunde based on plant material collected in the Blue Mountains.{{cite web|title=Epacris muelleri |url=https://id.biodiversity.org.au/instance/apni/494256 |publisher=APNI|accessdate=21 June 2022}}
Distribution and habitat
This epacris grows with scrub or heath vegetation in sheltered places on damp sandstone rock faces in the Blue Mountains and Wollemi National Park.
References
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Category:Flora of New South Wales
Category:Flora of Victoria (state)