''Epacris calvertiana'' is a plant of the heath family,

Ericaceae The Ericaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the heath or heather family, found most commonly in acidic and infertile growing conditions. The family is large, with c.4250 known species spread across 124 genera, making it th ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to New South Wales. It is an erect to diffuse shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with a sharp-pointed tip and with white, pink or red flowers arranged along the ends of leafy branchlets.

Description

''Epacris calvertiana'' is an erect to diffuse shrub that usually grows to a height of and has woolly-hairy branchlets. The leaves are elliptical to egg-shaped long and about wide on a petiole long with a tapering tip. The flowers are arranged along leafy branches on peduncles wide, the flowers in diameter. The five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...

s are long and the petals are joined to form a white tube, long, sometimes pink or red, and with five lobes long on the end. The five stamens and the single

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

are enclosed in the petal tube.

Taxonomy and naming

''Epacris calvertiana'' was first formally described in 1873 by Ferdinand von Mueller and the description was published in the journal, '' Fragmenta phytographiae Australiae''. The specific epithet (''calvertiana'') honours

Louisa Atkinson Caroline Louisa Waring Calvert (; 25 February 1834 – 28 April 1872) was an early Australian writer, botanist and illustrator. While she was well known for her fiction during her lifetime, her long-term significance rests on her botanical work ...

, (under her married name of Louisa Calvert) who collected the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes th ...

. Two varieties are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Syst ...

: * ''Epacris calvertiana'' var. ''calvertiana'' has flowers usually in diameter and white, cream-coloured or creamy green flowers; * ''Epacris calvertiana'' var. ''versicolor'' has flowers usually in diameter and pink to red flowers with white or cream-coloured lobes.

Distribution and habitat

Drumstick heath mainly occurs along the coast and tablelands of New South Wales from

Pigeon House Mountain Pigeon House Mountain ( Aboriginal: ''Didthul'') is a mountain at an elevation of on the Budawang Range that is situated within the Morton National Park, located on the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The prominent remnant ...

to the

Comboyne Plateau Comboyne is a village on the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales. It is situated on the Comboyne Plateau, some 60 km south-west of Port Macquarie, 35 km west of Kew and 54 km north-west of Taree. It is an attractive agricultu ...

and inland as far as Berrima. It grows on cliffs and in rocky places in forest, including rainforest, from sea level to an altitude of .

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15376449 calvertiana Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1873 Endemic flora of Australia Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller