Flora of New Zealand Series

Robust herb, 20-140 cm tall, usually not branched, with numerous vigorous leafy stolons from base, hirsute, densely covered everywhere with long spreading hairs, and often greyish, usually with a layer of shorter erect hairs and also with glandular hairs in infl. Lvs linear to very narrowly lanceolate, 1.5-6 × 0.2-0.8 cm. Floral tube 0.5-0.9 mm deep, with a conspicuous ring of long white hairs inside. Petals white or rose-purple, 2.8-8 × 1.8-5.2 mm, often < sepals. Capsule densely hairy, 3.5-6 cm long; fruiting pedicel 0.6-1.5 cm long.

N.: throughout, but not collected in Taranaki, common only from about Hamilton N.; S.: extremely scattered, mainly E. of the Main Divide.

Also indigenous to Australia, Indonesia, S. America.

Generally in wet places, sea level to 500 m.

FL Oct-Mar.

Raven and Raven noted that in addition to plants included under E. hirtigerum, some plants discussed by Allan (1961) under E. cinereum A. Rich. are referable to E. hirtigerum.