''Epacris pulchella'', commonly known as wallum heath or coral heath is a species of flowering plant in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 elsew ...

to eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is a slender, erect shrub with egg-shaped, pointed leaves and white or pinkish, tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Epacris longiflora'' is a slender, erect shrub that typically grows to a height of and has only a few woolly-hairy branches, the stems with inconspicuous leaf scars. The leaves are egg-shaped, with a heart-shaped base and long, tapering tip, long and wide on a petiole long. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils extending down the branches and are white or pinkish and wide, each flower on a peduncle long. The

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 coined b ...

s are long and the petals are joined at the base to form 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 ...

protrude beyond the end of the petal tube. Flowering occurs from January to May with a peak in March, and the fruit is a capsule long. This species is similar to '' E. microphylla'' but has longer leaves and flowers.

Taxonomy and naming

''Epacris pulchella'' was first formally described by

Antonio José Cavanilles Antonio José Cavanilles (16 January 1745 – 5 May 1804) was a leading Spanish taxonomic botanist of the 18th century. He named many plants, particularly from Oceania. He named at least 100 genera, about 54 of which were still used in 2004, ...

in 1797 and the description was published in his book ''Icones et descriptiones plantarum''. 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 ...

(''pulchella'') means "beautiful and small".

Distribution and habitat

Wallum heath grows in heath, woodland and forest on ridgetops and hillsides on the coast and nearby tablelands from south-east Queensland to near Conjola in south-eastern New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5382002 pulchella Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1797 Taxa named by Antonio José Cavanilles