Flora of New Zealand Series

tall willow-herb

Erect herb 15-200 cm tall, increasing by leafy rosettes near the base of the thick, hollow stem; stems strigillose only along the elevated lines decurrent from the margins of the petioles. Lvs mostly opposite (the uppermost alternate), deep green, glabrous, (1)-2-9 × 0.7-3 cm, lanceolate, serrulate with 20-30 teeth each side; base rounded or obtuse, apex acuminate; petiole 1-2 mm long. Infl. nodding, strigillose and with glandular hairs. Fls erect. Ovary 0.8-2.5 cm long, hairy, sometimes densely so. Floral tube 0.5-1.4 mm deep, with a conspicuous ring of long hairs inside. Sepals keeled, 2-4 × 1-1.2 mm. Petals rose-purple, 3.5-5.5 × 2.2-3.2 mm. Filaments of the longer stamens 1.4-3 mm long. Style white, 1.5-3 mm long, glabrous; stigma clavate, 1.2-2 mm high. Capsules hairy, 4.5-8.5 cm long; fruiting pedicel 0.3-1 cm long. Seeds 0.8-1.2 × 0.3-0.45 mm, narrowly obovoid; abaxial surface with conspicuous lines of papillae; terminal end with an evident pellucid beak formed from the coalesced bases of the coma.

N.; S.; St.; C.: sea level to 900 m.

N. America 1976

Waste places, especially where moist, in and around swamps, river beds and ponds, also in cultivated soil.

FL Nov-Mar.

Some naturalised plants of E. ciliatum were included by Allan (1961) within his concept of E. erectum Petrie (Raven and Raven, op. cit.)