Epacris crassifolia

Epacris crassifolia  is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is endemic to south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. It is a low-lying shrub with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the lower end towards the base, and tube-shaped, white or cream-coloured flowers clustered near the ends of the branches.

Description
Epacris crassifolia is a low-lying shrub that typically grows to a height of up to 20 cm and has stems with prominent leaf scars. The leaves are elliptic to egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 5–13 mm long and 1.5–7 mm wide on a petiole 0.6–1.8 mm long. The flowers are arranged in clusters near the ends of branches and are white or cream-coloured, tube-shaped and swollen near the middle, their size depending on subspecies, on a peduncle 1.5–5 mm long. Flowering occurs from November to January and the fruit is a capsule 1.4–2.8 mm long.

Taxonomy
Epacris crassifolia was first formally described in 1810 by Robert Brown in his Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen. The specific epithet (crassifolia) means "thick-leaved".

In 1996, R.K. Crowden and Yvonne Menadue described two subspecies of E. crassifolia and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census:
 * Epacris crassifolia R.Br. subsp. crassifolia has flowers 3.0–5.5 mm in diameter, each flower on a pedicel 2.5–3.5 mm long, with sepals 3–4 mm long, a petal tube 5.5–7 mm long and anthers about 1 mm long;
 * Epacris crassifolia subsp. macroflora Crowden & Menadue has flowers 6–10 mm in diameter, each flower on a pedicel 4–7 mm long with sepals 4.0–6.5 mm long, a petal tube 10–25 mm long and anthers about 2 mm long.

Distribution and habitat
This epacris grows on sandstone rock ledges and in rock crevices on the Central and South Coasts of New South Wales and inland as far as the Blue Mountains.