Epilobium melanocaulon Hook.
Type locality: "sands in the bed of the Wairau, southern Island." Type: K, Mr. Bidwill.
Stock hard, woody, emitting several to many erect stems up to 35 cm. long, simple or sparingly branched, almost black, pubescent on angles; branchlets slender, wiry; lines of pubescence 2-4. Lvs opp., floral alt., approximate, sessile or very shortly petioled. Lamina lanceolate to linear-oblong, often apiculate, (6)-10-12-(18) × ± 3-4 mm., coriac., glab., us. stained dark red; margins rather deeply, coarsely toothed. Fls ± 5 mm. diam.; calyx deeply cleft; lobes ± 4 mm., narrow-ovate, acute to acuminate; petals white to pink, ± 5 mm. long, bifid. Capsules glab., slender, purplish to almost black, 10-25 mm. long; peduncles ± 5 mm. long. Seeds papillose.
DIST.: N., S. Montane (occ. lowland) riverbed and rubble from Ruahine Range southwards.
FL.- FT. 12-3.
