Flora of New Zealand Series

Primary root short-lived; adventitious roots numerous. Stem very short, stout, simple, with fine brown hairs. Lvs radical, in prostrate to erect rosettes; petiole broad, flat. Lamina (2)-4-10 × 0.5-3.5 cm, elliptic to almost spathulate, submembranous; upper surface ± pilose with short erect hairs; lower surface more sparsely hairy; main veins (1)-3-(5); margins entire or obscurely to prominently toothed, occasionally prominently lobed; base attenuate; apex obtuse. Scape 5-15 cm long, with short, appressed and often dense hairs. Spike to 3 cm long, usually dense, (2)-5-many-flowered, generally longer than wide. Bracts 2-3 mm long, ovate; keel glabrous or almost so, wide, dark, otherwise bract membranous; margin glabrous or ciliate. Sepals 1.5-3 mm long, broad-oblong, glabrous, membranous except for narrow, dark keel. Corolla tube short; lobes c. 1-1.5 × 0.5-1 mm, ovate. Capsule 2-4 mm long, ovoid to almost rhomboid. Seeds (3)-5, narrow-ellipsoid, deep brown or reddish brown, largest to 1.8 mm long, usually 4 vertical and attached at base, 1 horizontal to oblique, smaller and separated from others by placental outgrowth towards apex.

N.: North Cape southwards to Cape Palliser but generally uncommon north of the Volcanic Plateau; S.; St.

Endemic.

Coastal cliffs, inland valleys, rocky slopes, to c. 1500 m, usually in moist places, often in partial shade.

FL Nov-Apr.

P. raoulii is very variable but the populations can be broadly assigned to 2 forms: the main form occurs throughout most of the range of the sp., and the second form grows on the Taranaki coast and around the shores of Cook Strait. The latter has thicker lvs which are usually wider and shorter than in the widespread form. P. raoulii may superficially resemble P. spathulata or even P. lanigera, but in addition to the distinctive fifth seed, the capsule is c. 2× calyx in P. raoulii but hardly exceeds it in the other 2 spp.

Puzzling plants in the Gouland Downs and Cobb Valley areas of N.W. Nelson seem to be most closely related to P. raoulii but lack the apical fifth seed usually present in that sp. Allan (1961) included these plants under P. picta (P. spathulata subsp. picta here), because, in addition to having only 4 vertical seeds, the lvs and the hairiness of the bracts and sepals are similar to  subsp. picta. However, all the features of these N.W. Nelson plants can be found within P. raoulii, which they resemble more than they do  subsp. picta. Even the seed number in P. raoulii is variable, because although there are probably always 5 ovules in the ovary, the mature capsule sometimes contains only 3 or 4 seeds.