''Epacris coriacea '' is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is a slender, erect shrub with hairy branchlets, egg-shaped to more or less diamond-shaped leaves and tube-shaped, white or cream-coloured flowers.

Description

''Epacris coriacea'' is a slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of , the branchlets softy-hairy and the stems with prominent leaf scars. The leaves are thick, egg-shaped to broadly elliptic or more or less diamond-shaped, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a

peduncle Peduncle may refer to: *Peduncle (botany), a stalk supporting an inflorescence, which is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed *Peduncle (anatomy), a stem, through which a mass of tissue is attached to a body **Peduncle (art ...

long and are wide, the sepals long. The petals are white to cream-coloured, forming a tube long with lobes long, the

anthers The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

protruding slightly beyond the petal tube. Flowering occurs in September and October and the fruit is a capsule about long.

Taxonomy and naming

''Epacris coriacea'' was first formally described in 1839 by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in his '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' from an unpublished description by Allan Cunningham of plants he collected on the Illawarra escarpment. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''coriacea'') means "leathery".

Distribution and habitat

This epacris grows on cliffs and in rock crevices from the

Woronora Plateau The Woronora Plateau is a plateau located in New South Wales, Australia. The area is adjacent to the Sydney Plains and is slightly higher in altitude. It is capped with Hawkesbury Sandstone. It is often hotter in summer and colder in winter than ...

to near

Rylstone Rylstone is a village and civil parish in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated very near to Cracoe and about 6 miles south west of Grassington. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 160. Ryls ...

in eastern New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15376748 coriacea Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1839 Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle