Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: "Awatere Basin, on shingle slip". Type: W, 4828, L. Cockayne.

Perennial creeping herb or subshrub; stems arising from stout us. multicipital stock, us. rhizomatous, much-branched, up to ± 3 dm. long; aerial parts ± densely clad in greyish ± villous hairs. Lvs on slender petioles 1-2 cm. long or more, us. clustered at tips of branchlets. Laminae of diverse shapes and sizes, several forms us. present on any particular plant. Three main groups may be recognized: (a) rather similar to those of C. verecundus but us. rather larger and with a pair of basal lobes; passing into (b) basal lobes larger, terminal lobe up to c. 3 cm. long, linear; (c) petioles linear to filiform, up to 5 cm. long; basal lobes up to 10 mm. long, linear, at right angles to linear, entire, sinuate or toothed terminal lobe up to 5 cm. long. Fls axillary, solitary, on slender to almost filiform peduncles up to 6 cm. long. Bracts paired, linear, c. 2-3 mm. long, near to or rather distant from calyx. Outer sepals > inner, broad-ovate, ± crenulate, ± 5 mm. long. Corolla white, ± 2 cm. long and diam. Seeds almost black, up to 5 mm. diam., finely tuberculate.

DIST.: S. Montane open grassland, rubble, rocky places and scree margins: Inland Kaikoura Range, Upper Awatere River and tributaries.

Petrie (loc. cit. 272) remarks: "The species is no doubt closely related to C. erubescens Sims, but the remarkable form and constant general character of the ordinary leaves, and the conspicuous grey pubescence, mark it off clearly enough." Petrie's description of the lvs is (loc. cit. 271): "Leaves petiolate, thin, trimorphic, variable in size and shape; primary (earliest) shortly petiolate with small semicircular or broadly ovate or ovate-cordate entire or sinuate blades about 1/2 cm. long and 1 cm. broad, intermediate with longer petioles and blades 11/4 cm. long, 3/4 cm. broad, divided into 3 oblong obtuse entire or slightly sinuate lobes (the terminal lobe at right angles to and longer than the two lateral lobes); the ordinary form on longer petioles (3-41/2 cm.) with subhastately tripartite blades 2-3 cm. long and 1-13/4 cm. broad (at the base), the terminal division long narrow obtuse or subacute, more or less channelled above, with obscure mid-rib, the basal divisions subtriangular narrow at the point of origin and widening outwards, sometimes entire, but usually deeply cut in front into 2 widely diverging subacute lobes."

This does not exhaust the combinations found nor the lf-shapes. Some forms have a few lvs hardly distinguishable from those of C. verecundus. I have not seen populations that appear to have hybrids with that sp.