Flora of New Zealand Series

musk

Glandular-hairy perennial herb with decumbent stems ascending to c. 30 cm tall. Lvs shortly petiolate. Lamina 1.5-5 × 1-2.5 cm, lanceolate to ovate, membranous, distantly dentate or almost entire; base usually truncate; apex acute. Fls solitary in lf axils. Pedicels 1-2 cm long, slender, densely glandular-hairy. Calyx 7-13 mm long, tubular, densely glandular-hairy, not accrescent; teeth narrowly triangular-acuminate, < tube, the upper somewhat longer than lower. Corolla 1.5-2 cm long, moderately irregular, yellow, glandular-hairy outside and bearded inside on lower lip; tube with fine dark veins; lobes emarginate or rounded; throat open. Capsule c. 5 mm long, ovoid or ovoid-elliptic. Seeds finely tuberculate.

N.; S.; St.: locally common to abundant throughout, commonest in western areas, to c. 1000 m.

W. North America 1878

Wet places such as streamsides, lakesides, bogs and ditches.

FL Jul-Jun.

Possibly poisonous (Connor 1977).

Early overseas accounts of this sp. tell of sweetly musk-scented plants, and this was the main reason why it was cultivated in the 19th century. In the early part of this century a lack of scented plants began to be noticed and at present scented plants are unknown in N.Z. or elsewhere.