Flora of New Zealand Series

Indian shot

Fig.8

Stems 1-2 m high, sturdy, glabrous, green. Leaves c. 45 cm long, oblong, green. Flowers in a lax raceme, often in pairs; bracts green, almost orbicular; sepals c. 1 cm long; petals 3-4 cm long, pinkish-red, lanceolate, acuminate. Erect staminodia 5-6 cm long, red, obovate-spathulate, entire; recurved staminode (labellum) narrower, entire, reddish-yellow, spotted red. Capsule ± globose, c. 2 × 1.5 cm, crowned by persistent sepals. Seeds globose, black.

K., N. North Auckland; Auckland; Gisborne; Hawkes Bay. S. Nelson-Granity; Westland-near Greymouth. Garden escape on roadside and railway embankments.

(West Indies, central and S. America; widely naturalised in other warm countries)

First record: Kirk 1870:143

First collection: "Near Te Puke, Bay of plenty, established on roadside, "A.J. Healy, 29.4.1945 (). There is an earlier specimen, "New Zealand, Rev, G. Brown, 1876" (), consisting of a single leaf, but whether it was cultivated or wild was not recorded.

FL. 11-4. FT. 1-5.

Hybrid forms of c. indica with large extremely showy flowers and red, yellow, or orange-red staminodia, and with leaves often purple-tinged are commonly cultivated and may also be found wild (CHR 274246-8, Opotiki, M. Heginbotham, 2.2.1975).