''Epacris pilosa'' 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 eastern New South Wales. It is low-lying shrub with weeping, shaggy-hairy branchlets, elliptic to more or less egg-shaped leaves and white or cream-coloured tube-shaped flowers.

Description

''Epacris pilosa'' is a low-lying shrub with weeping branches up to long, the branchlets covered with shaggy hairs. The leaves are elliptic to more or less egg-shaped, long, 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 ...

long and have fine hairs on the edges. The flowers are in diameter, each flower on a peduncle long, with pointed

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 near 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 long, the petals white or cream-coloured and joined at the base, forming a tube about long with lobes long. The

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

is about long and 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 ...

are about long. Flowering occurs from October to December and the fruit is a capsule about long.

Taxonomy and naming

This species was first formally described in 1992 by

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 ...

who gave it the name ''Rupicola ciliata'' in the journal '' Telopea'' based on plant material collected near Kurrajong Heights in 1989. In 2015, R.K. Crowden moved ''R. ciliata'' to the genus ''Epacris'', but since a different species had already been given the name ''Epacris ciliata'' (now known as '' Lysinema ciliatum''), Crowden changed the name ''Rupicola ciliata'' to ''Epacris pilosa'' in ''

Australian Systematic Botany ''Australian Systematic Botany'' is an international peer-reviewed scientific journal published by CSIRO Publishing. It is devoted to publishing original research, and sometimes review articles, on topics related to systematic botany, such as b ...

''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''pilosa'') refers to the hairy surface of the leaves, "an unusual feature in this genus".

Distribution and habitat

This epacris grows in rock crevices and ledges in the Kurrajong Heights and Bilpin areas and in parts of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q65937598

pilosa The Order (biology), order Pilosa is a clade of xenarthran placental mammals, native to the Americas. It includes anteaters and sloths (which include the extinct ground sloths). The name comes from the Latin word for "hairy". Origins and taxon ...

Ericales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Plants described in 1992