Flora of New Zealand Series

H. alata var. cartilaginea Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 148.

Type locality: "Cliffs near North Cape" Type: A, Cheeseman, Jan. 1896.

Erect perennial herb c. 30 cm. tall; stems many, tetragonous, minutely pubescent, with larger hairs on the angles. Lvs opp., rather closely spaced, broadly ovate to ovate-oblong, coriac., minutely scabrid, blade 14-20 × 10-13 mm., petiole very short and pubescent, margins regularly shallowly serrate. Many-fld racemes terminating branches, lfy bracts subtending clusters of fls and bracteoles. F1. c. 3·5 mm. long, on short pubescent pedicel; sepals pubescent, triangular, exceeding ovary length and reaching halfway up petals; petals c. 3 × ovary length, minutely scabrid on keel; stamens 8, anthers as long as petals, filaments very short; ovary 4-lobed, styles 4, short, erect, stigma covered with short lax multicellular hairs. Fr. c. 3·5 mm. long (including calyx-lobes) subpyriform, smooth and cylindrical above, below swollen into 4 rounded lobes, rugose, rarely and then us. only slightly winged; pericarp woody, loculi 4, 1-seeded.

DIST.: N. Known only from immediate vicinity of North Cape, in dwarf scrub on sea cliffs.

FL. 12-1. FT. 1-4.

Differs from all form of H. erecta in the broadly oval and cartilaginous lvs, the extensive and uniform puberulous covering, and in the fr. shape.