Flora of New Zealand Series

ivy-leaved toadflax

Glabrous herb; stems often purplish. Petioles slender, to 4 cm long. Lamina 1-2.7 × 1-3.5 cm, 5-lobed, often with 2 subsidiary lobes on basal pair, ± reniform, ± purplish on lower surface; base cordate; lobes usually mucronate. Pedicels slender, 1-3 cm long at anthesis. Calyx 2-3 mm long; lobes lanceolate, extending nearly to base. Corolla 10-12 mm long from obtuse apex of spur to rounded apices of lower lobes, pale mauve with yellow or whitish pouch and dark lines on the upper lip. Capsule slightly > calyx. Seeds 0.7-0.9 mm diam., broad-ovoid or subglobose, with prominent sinuate ridges.

N.; S.; St.

S. Europe 1904

Cultivation escape, on shady banks, walls, amongst rocks, mostly in the vicinity of buildings.

FL Jan-Dec.

A fl. of ivy-leaved toadflax or Kenilworth ivy is illustrated in Fig. 108. It is often cultivated in N.Z. as a pot or rock garden plant. The sp. has been recorded previously in N.Z. as Linaria cymbalaria.