Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Epacris petrophila
Common name
Snow heath
Family
Ericaceae
Where found
Heath, very low shrubland in alpine feldmark, and around and in Sphagnum bogs. Kosciuszko National Park and the western edge of the ACT. Occasionally in the ranges and tablelands south of Cooma.
Notes
Shrub to about 0.8 m high, or sprawling to prostrate and rooting at the nodes. Branches with inconspicuous leaf scars. Branchlets covered in fine short hairs. Leaves scattered, 0.11–0.4 cm long, 0.7–3 mm wide, thick, broadly oval, concave in cross section, tips often turned up, margins with minute teeth. Flowers white, tubular, the bell-shaped tube 1.3–2 mm long, with 5 spreading lobes each 1.4–2.5 mm long. No hairs on the inside of the flowers. Flowers single at the base of the upper leaves, forming short, leafy clusters. Flowering: December–February.
Family was Epacridaceae.
All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.
Rare Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Epacris~petrophila (accessed 12 January, 2021)
This identification key and fact sheets are available as a free mobile application:
