Flora of New Zealand Series

D. australis Hook. var. apetala Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1852, 47.

Notophoena toumatou Miers in Ann. Mag. nat. Hist. Ser. 3, 5, 1860, 271.

Tumatu-kuru, Irishman.

Type locality: "Akaroa in arenosis et consortio Pteridis esculentis". Type: P, Raoul.

Much-branched ± deciduous spiny shrub or tree up to 5 m. or more tall; branches divaricate, stiff; branchlets terete, green, ± flexible. Secondary lateral branchlets stiff, short, or reduced to spines up to ± 5 cm. long. Lvs opp. or in opp. fascicles, rarely absent, (5)-10-20 × (2)-5 mm., narrow-obovate to obovate-oblong, coriac., obtuse, ± glossy above. Fls in few-fld cymose fascicles to solitary, ± 3-5 mm. diam., on short puberulous pedicels. Sepals 4-5, greenish to clear white, reflexed; petals 0. Fr. c. 5 mm. diam., globose, us. deeply 3-lobed.

DIST.: N., S., Ch. Coastal to montane; dunes, open and rocky places, from lat. 37° southwards; sts forming thickets; less common but often tall west of divide in S.

FL. 10-1. FT. 12-3.

Very closely related to D. australis Hook. of Tasmania and Australia, but lacking petals. Cockayne (T.N.Z.I. 32, 1900, 92-94) raised a number of seedlings; these lacked spines, and had lvs with a few teeth in the upper third of the lamina. Cockayne referred to similar "reversion" shoots on mature plants. In New Phytol. 4, 1905, 79-85 he discussed his experimental work, which showed that, over a period of 7 years, a plant cultivated in a moisture-saturated atmosphere developed no spines. Cockayne (N.Z. J. Sci. Tech. 5, 1922, 208) described a pair of spineless plants with drooping twigs growing in the open on the old riverbed of the R. Dart at the head of L. Wakatipu; "some twigs are quite spineless, and others with a few spines, either very stunted or up to 18 mm. long." Other semi-spineless plants have since been noted elsewhere.