Flora of New Zealand Series

strawberry blite

Erect, glabrous, non-aromatic, eglandular and scarcely farinose annual, 20-50 cm tall. Stems simple or branched. Petiole 1-6 cm long. Lamina 1.5-8 × 0.8-5.5 cm, narrow-triangular with 2 narrow-acute lobes at base, purple beneath, at least when young, sinuate and occasionally toothed above; base cuneate; apex acute. Infls terminal and axillary, of discrete, sessile, subglobose, many-flowered glomerules; lvs subtending lower and middle glomerules decreasing in size upwards. Perianth segments 0.5-1.0 mm long, reddish, accrescent, rather narrow and scarcely touching at anthesis. Fruiting heads 1-1.5 cm diam., scarlet; perianth succulent; pericarp very thin, transparent, strongly persistent. Seed vertical, 0.8-1 × 0.6-0.7 mm, broadly oblong-ellipsoid or subreniform; margin acute; testa dark brown, minutely pitted.

N.: recorded from Levin; S.: Riccarton (Christchurch), Owaka (S. Otago).

Origin uncertain, probably W. Asia 1904

Cultivated land, very rare.

FL Dec-Jan.