Flora of New Zealand Series

sand primrose

Annual or biennial (possibly sometimes short-lived perennial) herb, with stout taproot. Stems to c. 75 cm tall, not or sparingly branched, white-pilose and with short glandular hairs in upper part. Rosette lvs numerous, 0 at flowering, sessile, 3-15 × 0.4-1 cm, narrow-linear to narrow-oblanceolate, glabrous excluding margins; midrib pale; margins undulate, ciliolate, sparsely denticulate, ± undulate. Cauline lvs similar but usually shorter and to 1.6 cm wide towards base, the upper lvs often hairy below. Fls solitary, sessile, crepuscular but lasting well into the next day; subtending lf sheath-like at base and obscuring lower part of ovary, with hairs as on stem. Floral tube 2-3 cm long, narrow-cylindric, with hairs as on stem. Buds narrowly oblong, erect. Sepals 1.7-2.7 cm long, ± reddish, with hairs as on stem; apices mucronate, erect or divergent. Petals 2.5-3.5 cm long, broad-obovate, yellow, ageing to orange-red. Style exserted by 1.5-2 cm. Capsule 2-2.5 cm long, widening slightly in upper 1/2, sometimes curved, ± reddish, slightly ribbed, with long and short hairs. Seeds 1-1.7 mm long, irregular but somewhat ellipsoid, finely reticulate.

N.; S.: N. Auckland to N. Otago and Westland, widely naturalised in lowland areas.

S. South America 1867

Behind beaches and in other sandy and stony areas such as river beds, roadsides, railway embankments, and open waste places.

FL Nov-Jun.

O. stricta is probably mostly biennial in N.Z. The fls open towards evening. Specimens from N.Z. were cited as O. stricta subsp. stricta by Dietrich, W., Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 64: 542 (1977). He provided a key to 3 subspp. and noted that subsp. stricta is naturalised in many countries. Many N.Z. specimens have a larger corolla and calyx than indicated for subsp. stricta, but this character does not put them into the other subspp. All of the subspp. are from southern S. America, with subsp. stricta indigenous to C. Chile and the others to C. Argentina. Dietrich suggested that O. stricta itself may be a natural hybrid. Sand primrose has also been known in N.Z. as O. odorata, one of the putative parents.