698 EPACRIDACEAE. | EL pacris. 
4. EPACRIS Forst. iq. 
Usually erect rigid heath-like shrubs. Leaves sessile or shortly petioled, 
crowded or imbricated, articulated on the branch, never sheathing. -Flowers 
solitary and axillary, often extending along the branches for a considerable 
distance, sessile or shortly peduncled, white or red. Bracts numerous, 
imbricating, clothing the peduncle and concealing the base of the calyx, 
Calyx 5-partite ; corolla-tube cylindric or campanulate ; lobes 5, imbricate, 
spreading. Stamens 5; filaments short, adnate to the corolla - tube ; 
anthers affixed above the middle, wholly or partly included in the corolla- 
tube. Hypogynous dise of 5 free or rarely connate scales. Ovary 5-celled ; 
ovules numerous, attached to a central placenta. Capsule 5-celled, loculi- 
cidally 5-valved. Seeds numerous. — 
A genus comprising 40 species, all of which are confined to Australia and Tas- 
mania, except the 2 found in New Zealand, and 1 or 2 from New Caledonia. 
Three Australian species of Epacris (E. purpurascens R. Br., E. pulchella Cav., and 
#. microphylla R. Br.) have become plentifully naturalized in open “ tea-tree country ” 
in several localities near the Manukau Harbour in the vicinity of Papakura and Drury 
(Auckland District). The first-mentioned was originally discovered by the late Dr. 
Sinclair and General Bolton nearly seventy years ago, and was included by Sir J. D. Hooker 
in both the “ Flora Novae-Zealandiae ” and the Handbook, although he expressed the 
opinion that it was probably introduced. The two others were first noticed by Mr. A. T. 
Urquhart (see Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv (1882) 364, and xxviii (1896) 20). All three species 
belong to the division of the genus which has the corolla-tube shorter or barely longer 
than the calyx, and all three have broad acuminate leaves, cordate at the base. 
4. purpurascens can be distinguished by the large leaves with long pungent points and 
rather large pale-pink flowers, which are usually most abundantly produced. 
Krect, 2-8ft. high. Leaves 3-+in., rhomboid - ovate, usually 
acuminate. Bracts very numerous, acute se - .. IL. E. pauciflora. 
Erect or decumbent, 1-4 ft, - Leaves s-¢in., broadly elliptical, 
obtuse. Bracts few, obtuse 2. H. alpina. 
1. E. paueiflora 4. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. (1832) 213, t. 29.—A slender 
erect shrub, usually from 3 to 6 ft. high, but occasionally attaining 8-10 ft. 
or more, sometimes reduced to a few inches: branches often fascicled, 
erect, leafy, virgate, puberulous at the tips. Leaves suberect, imbricating, 
é-t in. long, ovate or rhomboid-ovate or oblong-obovate, suddenly narrowed 
into a bluntly acuminate point, shortly petiolate, concave, very thick and 
coriaceous, veinless, glabrous on both surfaces. Flowers small, white, 
copiously produced towards the tips of the branches. Peduncles shorter 
than the leaves, entirely concealed by numerous imbricating ovate acute 
bracts, the uppermost of which closely invest the calyx. Corolla-tube 
hardly longer than the calyx; lobes spreading, broadly oblong, obtuse. 
Capsule small—A. Cunn. Precur. (1838) n. 411: Raoul’ Choix (1846) 44; 
Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i (1853) 166; Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 179; Cheesem. 
Man. N.Z. Fl. (1906) 415. 
Var. SinelairiiiLeaves obtuse, not narrowed into acuminate points.—E. Sinclair 
Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. (1864) 179. | 
NortuH anp Sour Isuanps: Open clay hills from the North Cape to Collingwood 
and Westport, but rare and local south of the Waikato and Thames Rivers. Sea-level 
to 2000 ft. Flowers most of the year. Var. Sinclairii : Great Barrier Island, Sinclair ! 
I’. Kirk! Upper Kauaeranga Valley, Thames, W. Townson / 
£. Sinclairii differs from E. paucifiora in no respect except that the leaves are not 
narrowed into short acuminate points. But the amount of acumination is so variable 
in #. pauciflora, the points being longer and sharper in young plants, and shorter and 
broader or almost absent in old ones, that I can entertain no doubt as to the specific 
identity of the two plants. 
