Flora of New Zealand Series

Erect or spreading slender shrub up to ± 1 m tall, often decumbent at base; branches slender; branchlets puberulent towards tips. Lvs ascending at first, becoming ± patent, close-set, 3-5 × 1.5-2 mm, coriaceous, glabrous, on very short subappressed petioles widening to base. Lamina concave above, obtusely keeled on back, ovate-oblong to elliptic; veins obscure; apex obtuse to subacute. Fls solitary, axillary, on short peduncles towards tip of branchlets. Bracts usually 6-10, broad-ovate, ± imbricate. Calyx lobes obtuse, ciliolate, 2-3 mm long. Corolla white, 2.5-4 mm diam.; lobes spreading, ovate-triangular, obtuse, < tube. Capsule ± 1.5 mm long, subglobose.

N.; S.: from 38- c. 44°.

Endemic.

Montane to lower subalpine grassland, fellfield.

FL Dec-Jan.