Flora of New Zealand Series

false thorow-wax

Erect annual herb. Stems solid, striate, smooth, up to 75 cm high. Lvs ovate, entire, shortly mucronate, usually perfoliate; upper stem lvs broader; veins numerous, radiating and anastomosing toward margin. Umbels 3-5 cm diam.; rays (1)-2-3-(4), ± equal; bracts 0-1, similar to reduced lvs; bracteoles 3-6, suborbicular, mucronate, overlapping, many-veined. Fls (10)-13-20-(22), yellow, c. 2 mm diam. Fr. ovoid-oblong, brown, conspicuously papillose, 3-5 mm long; ribs slender.

N.: Auckland City; S.: Christchurch, Fairlie.

S. Europe 1883

Rare casual of gardens.

FL Nov-Mar.

Cheeseman, T. F., Trans. Proc. N.Z. Inst. 15 : 283 (1883), and several other authors recorded B. rotundifolium for N.Z., but all specimens so labelled have the papillate frs and broad bracteoles which characterise B. subovatum. B. subovatum has been distinguished in recent European Floras [e.g., Meikle, R., Fl. Cyprus 1 (1977)] from B. lancifolium Hornem., under which name N.Z. material has also been recorded.