''Epacris gunnii'' is a species of flowering plant in the

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 south-eastern Australia. It is an erect shrub with hairy branchlets, concave, sharply-pointed, broadly egg-shaped leaves, and tube-shaped, white flowers arranged along the stems.

Description

''Epacris gunnii'' is a shrub with a few slender erect branches typically growing to a height of up to about , the branches softly-hairy. The leaves are

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

, concave, broadly egg-shaped, long, wide, sharply-pointed and evenly-spaced along the branches. The flowers are arranged along of the branches in leaf axils, each flower 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 ...

about long with up to 21

bract In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves in size, color, shape or texture. They also lo ...

s at the base. 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 are egg-shaped, long, the petal tube long with lobes long, the

anthers The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filamen ...

slightly longer than the petal tube. Flowering occurs from April to October in New South Wales, from September to December in Tasmania. In Victoria, flowering can occur in any month, but from October to February at higher elevations. The fruit is a capsule in diameter.

Taxonomy

''Epacris gunnii'' was first formally described in 1847 by

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...

in the '' London Journal of Botany'', from specimens collected in the "Marlborough and Hampshire Hills" by

Gunn Gunn may refer to: Places * Gunn City, Missouri, a village * Gunn, Northern Territory, outer suburb of Darwin * Gunn, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet * Gunn Valley, a mountain valley in British Columbia, Canada * Gun Lake (British Columbia), a Cana ...

an
Lawrence

Distribution and habitat

This epacris grows in forest, heath and grassland, sometime on stream banks and occurs on the coast and tablelands of eastern New South Wales, and mostly in higher places in eastern Victoria and Tasmania. In New South Wales it grows on peaty soils in association with '' Leptospermum glaucescens'', ''

Sprengelia incarnata ''Sprengelia incarnata'', commonly referred to as pink swamp-heath, is a species of flowering plant of the family Ericaceae, and is Native species, native to south-eastern Australia and New Zealand. It is an erect, wikt:glabrous, glabrous shrub ...

'' and ''

Ranunculus ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

'' species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5381998 gunnii Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Tasmania Flora of Victoria (state) Taxa named by Joseph Dalton Hooker Plants described in 1847