Flora of New Zealand Series

mawhai

Stems to c. 3 mm diam., often forming dense masses, usually yellowish green, minutely puberulent when young, becoming glabrous. Scale lvs mostly 1-2 mm long, ovate, ± ciliate. Spikes mostly simple, sometimes branched, 2-10 cm long, glabrous or nearly so; fls distant, especially lowermost, subsessile or pedicels very short. Bracts 1-1.5 mm long, ovate. Outer perianth similar to bracts; inner segments 2-2.5 mm long, elliptic-oblong. Stamens included; outermost filaments broadly winged. Style < stamens. Fr. 4-5.5 mm diam., globose, glabrate or puberulent.

N.: North Cape to the Kaitaia and Mangonui areas.

Also indigenous to Australia.

Scrub and secondary growth, parasitising a wide range of plants, especially Leptospermum and Kunzea.

FL Dec-Feb.

The common name dodder-laurel has also been used in N.Z.