''Epacris navicularis'' is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-western Tasmania. It is a shrub with crowded, overlapping egg-shaped leaves arranged in five rows, and bell-shaped white flowers crowded in upper leaf axils.

Description

''Epacris navicularis'' is a shrub that typically grows to a height of up to and has softly-hairy young stems. Its leaves are crowded, overlapping and egg-shaped, arranged in five columns along the branches, long and about wide on a short, broad petiole. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils forming a cluster near the ends of branches. The five sepals are broadly lance-shaped to egg-shaped, long and the

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s are white, joined at the base to form a bell-shaped tube with lobes that are longer than the petal tube. Flowering occurs from January to March.

Taxonomy and naming

''Epacris navicularis'' was first formally described in 1978 by

S. Jean Jarman S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where " ...

in the ''

Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania The Royal Society of Tasmania (RST) was formed in 1843. It was the first Royal Society outside the United Kingdom, and its mission is the advancement of knowledge. The work of the Royal Society of Tasmania includes: * Promoting Tasmanian historic ...

'' from specimens collected on Mount Sprent (near the Serpentine Dam) in 1977. 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 ...

(''navicularis'') means "boat-shaped".

Distribution and habitat

This epacris grows in exposed alpine heathland in south-western Tasmania, including on Frenchmans Cap.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q15376113 navicularis Ericales of Australia Flora of Tasmania Plants described in 1978 Endemic flora of Australia