Flora of New Zealand Series

Slender erect shrub to 2 m tall, sometimes very small; branches often fascicled, erect, ± virgate; branchlets puberulous when young. Lvs ascending at first, becoming ± patent, close-set, 4-8-(10) × 1-4 mm, coriaceous, glabrous, often tinted red, on very short petioles. Lamina concave above, not keeled on back, lanceolate-oblong, oblong, ovate, rhombic-ovate to oblong-ovate; veins obscure; apex ± apiculate to narrow-acuminate. Fls solitary, axillary, aggregated towards tips of branchlets; peduncles c. 1.5 mm long. Bracts usually 10-20, strongly imbricate, ovate, conspicuously striate. Corolla white, c. 4-5 mm diam.; lobes patent, broad-oblong, obtuse to subacute, > tube. Capsule ± 1.5 mm long, subglobose, lobed.

N.: throughout ( var. pauciflora), Great Barrier Id and upper Kauaeranga Valley (Thames) ( var. sinclairii (Hook. f.) Cheeseman); S.: to 42° ( var. pauciflora).

Endemic.

Lowland and lower montane open shrubland, fernland, and bog.

FL Jan-Dec.