Flora of New Zealand Series

Parataniwha.

Type locality: "damp shady woods on the bank of rivers, the Kana Kana etc." Type: BM, A. Cunningham 1826.

Stems stout, fleshy, decumbent and woody at base, then erect or suberect up to 15 dm. tall, sparingly branched. Lvs alt., 8-25 × 2.5-6 cm., auricled and semiamplexicaul at base; lamina obliquely obovate-oblong to lanceolate, membr., sharply and coarsely serrate, rugose, beset with minute asperities. Stipules lanceolate, deciduous. Glomerules unisexual or sts mixed. Staminate glomerules up to 15 mm. diam. or more, with broad bracts; fls pedicelled; bracteoles broad, glab.; per.-segs hyaline, acuminate. Pistillate glomerules with narrower bracts and bracteoles; fls subsessile, per. of 4 hyaline pubescent segs. Achene minute, ovoid.

DIST.: N. Damp shaded areas, especially by streamsides, in lowland to montane forest from near North Cape to Tararua Range; local in southern part of range.