Flora of New Zealand Series

Chilean glory creeper

Stem much-branched, woody towards base, evergreen or deciduous with aerial shoots dying back in winter in colder climates. Lvs alternate, membranous, 2-pinnate, the second order branches with 3-7 leaflets. Leaflets usually 2 cm long but very variable, ± ovate, glabrous or minutely puberulent, entire, dentate or lobulate; base often strongly oblique; apex ± obtuse. Fls numerous; pedicels glandular. Calyx to 1 cm long; teeth acute or mucronate, purplish, glandular-puberulent. Corolla c. 2.5 cm long, orange-red outside, orange within, the rounded lobes slightly reflexed. Capsule pedicellate, to 4.5 × 2 cm, ovoid-ellipsoid, somewhat rugose, lustrous; base attenuate. Seeds black with prominent wing.

N.; S.: occasional throughout, well established in S. Canterbury around the Waitaki R. (Waimate area).

Chile 1940

Usually climbing on trees and shrubs, especially hedges near original sites of cultivation.

FL Sep-May.

Chilean glory creeper is illustrated in Fig. 39. It produces viable seed prolifically and the light seed is wind-dispersed. Sometimes cv. 'Ruber' is grown, but has not been reported wild; this is distinguished by its rosy crimson corolla.