Epacris crassifolia
Epacris crassifolia is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is a low-lying shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the lower end towards the base, and tube-shaped, white or cream-coloured flowers clustered near the ends of the branches.
Description
Epacris crassifolia is a low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has stems with prominent leaf scars. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged in clusters near the ends of branches and are white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped and swollen near the middle, their size depending on subspecies, on a peduncle long. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is a capsule long.Taxonomy
Epacris crassifolia was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. The specific epithet means "thick-leaved".In 1996, R.K. Crowden and Yvonne Menadue described two subspecies of E. crassifolia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:Epacris crassifolia R.Br. subsp. crassifolia has flowers in diameter, each flower on a pedicel long, with sepals long, a petal tube long and anthers about long;Epacris crassifolia subsp. macroflora Crowden & Menadue has flowers in diameter, each flower on a pedicel long with sepals long, a petal tube long and anthers about long.