Epacris gnidioides

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Epacris gnidioides
Epacris gnidioides.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Ericaceae
Genus: Epacris
Species:
E. gnidioides
Binomial name
Epacris gnidioides
Synonyms [1]
  • Rupicola gnidioidesSummerh.
  • Budawangia gnidioides(Summerh.) I.Telford

Epacris gnidioides, commonly known as Budawangs cliff-heath, [2] is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic 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.

Contents

Description

Epacris gnidioides is a creeping, rhizome-forming shrub with branches up to 50 cm (20 in) long. Its leaves are lance-shaped, 4–8 mm (0.16–0.31 in) long and 1–2 mm (0.039–0.079 in) wide on a petiole about 1.5 mm (0.059 in) long. The leaves are thin, concave and covered with long, soft hairs. The flowers are arranged singly in leaf axils on a pedicel 1.5–5 mm (0.059–0.197 in) long, the sepals 2.5–3.0 mm (0.098–0.118 in) long. The petals are white and form a tube 1.0–1.2 mm (0.039–0.047 in) long, the lobes 3.0–3.5 mm (0.12–0.14 in) long and tapered. Flowering occurs from September to February and the fruit is a capsule about 2 mm (0.079 in) long. [3] [4]

Taxonomy

This species was first formally described in 1927 by Victor Samuel Summerhayes 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 in a "cleft in sandstone cliff". [5] [6]

In 1992, Ian Telford moved the species to his newly created genus Budawangia as Budawangia gnidioides in the journal Telopea . It was the only species in the genus. [4]

In 2015, Elizabeth Anne Brown transferred the species to Epacris as Epacris gnidioides based on a phylogenetic study which found that Rupicola and Budawangia were embedded within Epacris. [7] As of March 2024, sources such as the Australian Plant Census and Plants of the World Online accept the name Epacris gnidioides, regarding Rupicola gnidioides and Budawangia gnidioides as a synonyms. [1] [8] [9] [10]

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 in south-eastern New South Wales. [2] [3] [11]

Conservation status

Epacris gnidioides is listed as "vulnerable" under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (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. [2] [11]

Related Research Articles

Rupicola is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae. The species are endemic to New South Wales in Australia.

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<i>Epacris muelleri</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Epacris browniae</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Leptospermum subglabratum</i> Species of shrub

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<i>Epacris crassifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

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<i>Epacris apiculata</i> Species of flowering plant

Epacris apiculata is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is a small, slender, low-lying to erect shrub with hairy branchlets, egg-shaped leaves with a thickened, pointed tip and tube-shaped flowers with white petals.

<i>Epacris celata</i> Species of flowering plant

Epacris celata is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern continental Australia. It is a spreading to erect shrub with flat, elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and tube-shaped white flowers clustered in upper leaf axils.

<i>Epacris decumbens</i> Species of flowering plant

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Epacris lithophila is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area of New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with few branches, lance-shaped to elliptic leaves and creamy-white, tube-shaped flowers.

Epacris pilosa is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic 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.

Epacris pinoidea is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to a small area of eastern New South Wales. It is an erect to semi-erect shrub with flat, oblong to elliptic or lance-shaped leaves and white, tube-shaped flowers.

<i>Epacris purpurascens</i> Species of flowering plant

Epacris purpurascens is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect shrub with egg-shaped or heart-shaped, sharply-pointed leaves and white or pink, tube-shaped flowers.

Epacris rigida is a species of flowering plant in the family Ericaceae and is endemic to eastern New South Wales. It is an erect, bushy shrub with elliptic leaves and white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped flowers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Epacris gnidioides". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 "Budawangs cliff-heath". New South Wales Government Office of Environment and Heritage. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  3. 1 2 Powell, Jocelyn M. "Epacris gnidioides". Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  4. 1 2 Telford, I.R.H. (1992). "Budawangia and Rupicola, new and revised genera of Epacridaceae". Telopea. 5: 229–239. doi: 10.7751/telopea19924966 . Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  5. ↑ "Rupicola gnidioides". APNI. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  6. ↑ Summerhayes, Victor S. (1927). "Decades Kewenses. Plantarum Novarum in Herbario Horti Regii Conservatarum. Decas CXVIII". Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Gardens, Kew). 1927 (8): 357. doi:10.2307/4107644.
  7. ↑ Quinn, Christopher J.; Crowden, Ronald K.; Brown, Elizabeth A.; Southam, Michael J.; Thornhill, Andrew H.; Crayn, Darren M. (10 September 2015). "A reappraisal of the generic concepts of Epacris, Rupicola and Budawangia (Ericaceae, Epacridoideae, Epacrideae) based on phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular data". Australian Systematic Botany. 28 (1): 63–77. doi:10.1071/SB13009. ISSN   1446-5701. S2CID   85849925. (DOI paywalled, proof copy at .)
  8. ↑ "Budawangia gnidioides". APNI. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Epacris gnidioides". APNI. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "Epacris gnidioides (Summerh.) E.A.Br." Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 22 March 2024.
  11. 1 2 "Approved Conservation Advice for Budawangia gnidioides (Budawangs Cliff-heath)" (PDF). Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
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