Cordyline banksii Hook.f.
C. diffusa Col. in T.N.Z.I. 15, 1883, 330.
Ti ngahere, Ti parae.
Original locality: Described from a specimen "Mr Standish No. 1" consisting of a full flowering panicle and a small growing plant. Type: K? None annotated as from Mr Standish.
Plant to 4m. tall; stems c. 10–15 cm. diam., us. a number from near ground level, subequal and sparingly branched. Lvs 1–2 m. × 4–8 cm., broad at the middle and inclined to droop from there, narrowed above base into a channelled petiole that is rarely > ½ lamina-width and often occupies c. ¼ to 1/5 of lf-length; lamina paler abaxially; midrib flat adaxially, prominent and rounded abaxially; nerves unequal, several rather strong and sts differently coloured, meeting midrib at appreciable angle; margins laxly revolute. Peduncle stout, to 30–40 × 2 cm. Panicle to 1–2 m. long, broadly pyramidal, openly branched to third order, branches coming off at rather narrow angle; lower bracts green and foliaceous, the larger bracts and some of the smaller ones each us. associated with 2–4 minor branches as well as the major one; ultimate racemes c. 15–30 cm. long, 2 cm. or more diam. with fls on; axes visible between fls. Fls very fragrant; per. c. 10 mm. long, white; tepals shortly connate, patent. Stamens c. = tepals; filaments narrow. Stigma shortly trifid. Fr. c. 4–5 mm. diam., globose, white or bluish. Seeds c. 2 mm. diam., ± shining, 2 sides flat and one convex. 2n = 38.
DIST.: N., S., north and west of main divide.
Forest margins.
FL. 11–1. FT. 2–4.
C. diffusa was described as like C. banksii but with no trunk. "Hab. On cliffy exposed edges, dry hilly forests between Norsewood and Danneverke, Hawke's Bay district, North Island, 1881–1882, Flowering November. W.C." Type: At K a lf with base and a part infl. is accompanied by a Colenso label, as is WELT 24293, the later one of a number of sheets in Herb. Colenso.
