''Epacris gnidioides'', commonly known as Budawangs cliff-heath, is a species of flowering plant in the heath

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Ericaceae The Ericaceae () are a Family (biology), 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 about 4,250 known species spread acros ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...

to a restricted area of New South Wales. It is a small, creeping shrub with hairy branches, sharply-pointed lance-shaped leaves, and tube-shaped, white flowers. Originally described as ''Rupicola gnidioides'', it was at one time regarded as the only species in the genus ''Budawangia'' under the synonym ''Budawangia gnidioides''.

Description

''Epacris gnidioides'' is a creeping,

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

-forming shrub with branches up to long. Its leaves are lance-shaped, long and wide on a

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

about long. The leaves are thin, concave and covered with long, soft hairs. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a

pedicel Pedicle or pedicel may refer to: Human anatomy *Pedicle of vertebral arch, the segment between the transverse process and the vertebral body, and is often used as a radiographic marker and entry point in vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty procedures ...

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 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s long. The petals are white and form a tube long, the lobes long and tapered. Flowering occurs from September to February and the fruit is a capsule about long.

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1927 by

Victor Samuel Summerhayes Victor Samuel Summerhayes (21 February 1897 – 27 December 1974) was an English botanist in charge of the orchid herbarium at Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew for 39 years. Summerhayes was born on 21 February 1897 at Street, Somerset and he was ed ...

who gave it the name ''Rupicola gnidioides'' in the '' Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information'' based on specimens collected in 1927 by Frederick A. Rodway near the Ettrema River, south west of

Nowra Nowra () is a city in the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated po ...

in a "cleft in sandstone cliff". In 1992,

Ian Telford Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a popu ...

moved the species to his newly created genus ''Budawangia'' as ''Budawangia gnidioides'' in the journal '' Telopea''. It was the only species in the genus. In 2015, Elizabeth Anne Brown transferred the species to ''

Epacris ''Epacris'' is a genus of about forty species of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. It was formerly treated in a closely related but separate family Epacridaceae, but the various genera within Epacridaceae including ''Epacris'' have been ...

'' as ''Epacris gnidioides'' based on a phylogenetic study which found that ''Rupicola'' and ''Budawangia'' were embedded within ''Epacris''. (DOI paywalled, proof copy a

) , sources such as 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 Sys ...

and

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

accept the name ''Epacris gnidioides'', regarding ''Rupicola gnidioides'' and ''Budawangia gnidioides'' as a

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

Distribution and habitat

Budawangs cliff-heath grows in rock crevices and on sandy ledges at the base of sandstone cliffs on the edges of forest and heath and is only known from the northern

Budawang Range The Budawang Range, commonly called The Budawangs, a rugged mountain range within the Budawang National Park and the Morton National Park, are part of a spur off the Great Dividing Range and are located in the South Coast region of New South ...

in south-eastern New South Wales.

Conservation status

''Epacris gnidioides'' is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government ''

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

'' (EPBC) Act and the New South Wales '' Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016''. The main threats to its survival are its narrow distribution, inappropriate fire regimes, and use of sandstone caves for camping.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65937558, from2=Q4984092, from3=Q15940385, from4=Q65947703 gnidioides Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1927