Epacris alpina Hook.f.
E. affinis Col. in T.N.Z.I. 20, 1888, 199.
Type locality: base of Mount Tongariro. Type: K, Bidwill.
Erect or spreading slender shrub up to ± 1 m. tall, often decumbent at base; branches slender, branchlets puberulous towards tips. Lvs close-set, becoming ± paten, coriac., glab., on very short subappressed petioles widening to base, concavo-convex, keeled on back; 3-5 × 1·5-2mm., ovate-oblong to elliptic, obtuse to subactue; midrib stout, veins obscure. Fls solitary, axillary, on short peduncles towards tip of branchlets. Bracts 5-6, broad-ovate, small, increasing upwards to c. 2 mm. long. Fls up to c. 7 mm. long; calyx-lobes obtuse, ciliolate, 2-3 mm. long; corolla white, tube short, lobes spreading, obtuse, ovate-triangular. Stigma capitate, on stout style. Capsule ± 1·5 mm. long, subglobose, 5-lobed; locules 5.
DIST.: N., S. Montane to lower subalpine grassland, fellfield, from lat. 38º 30' to c. 44º
FL. 12-1. FT. 1-3.
Colenso (loc. cit. ) described his E. affinis from plants collected by H. Hill "on the arid Iavaflow, altitude 3,000 to 4,000 feet". He observes: "This species is nearly allied to E. alpina, Hook. f . . . but differs in its more close habit, its smaller adpressed and variable leaves, its narrower and ciliated bracts, and its corymbose flowers. . . . It flowers plentifully; but my specimens hand long past flowering, and I have (after a careful search) only seen two flowers, which appeared remarkable for their large exserted anthers." The specimens at K do not now well support these statements.
