Flora of New Zealand Series

pultenaea

Shrub up to 2 m high; twigs angular, finely hairy. Lvs alternate, glabrous, cuneate-ovate to cuneate-oblong, (10)-15-30 mm long, with margins somewhat recurved, mucronate; midvein prominent; petiole 2-3 mm long; stipules glabrous, triangular, dark brown, c. 1.5 mm long. Infl. terminal, ± umbellate or shortly racemose, with numerous fls subtended by 2-4 or more lvs; pedicels 2-4 mm long; bracts imbricate, sericeous toward base, ovate and mostly 3-lobed; outer bracts 1-3 mm long and persistent; inner bracts up to 5 mm long and deciduous; outer fls subtended by deciduous bracteoles similar to inner bracts; all fls with linear, persistent, sericeous bracteoles attached to calyx. Calyx densely sericeous; calyx teeth < tube. Corolla 8-10 mm long, yellowish with dark keel. Pod sericeous at least when young, ovoid-oblong, flattened, 1-2-seeded, 5-7 mm long.

N.: an escape from cultivation collected from Mangawhai and Mangonui (Northland) and Auckland City.

E. Australia, Tasmania 1933

Established locally in waste places and scrubland.

FL Sep-Oct.

Possibly poisonous (Connor 1977).