Flora of New Zealand Series

godetia

Annual herb; stems to c. 50 cm high, suberect, puberulent, becoming woody towards base, branching freely. Lvs puberulent; petiole to 1 cm long, often indistinct. Lamina 1.5-4 × 0.3-1.2 cm, narrow-linear to lanceolate, entire; base attenuate; apex acute. Fls in short terminal racemes, densely puberulent. Pedicels short at anthesis, erect. Buds erect; floral tube usually 1-3 cm long, with a ring of hairs below middle within. Sepals 1-2.3 cm long, lightly cohering, mucronate. Petals (1.5)-2-3 cm long, broad-obovate, pink to crimson, with central area usually more deeply coloured; margin often somewhat erose; claw well developed. Anthers long, linear, usually mauve. Stigmatic lobes linear. Capsule to 3 cm long, narrow-fusiform, terete, densely puberulent. Seeds brown, minutely scaly.

S.: Canterbury, Invercargill.

California 1958

Occasional near settlements, especially on light sandy or stony soils near the coast and on roadsides and railway embankments.

FL Nov-Apr.

Godetia is cultivated in gardens and parks all over N.Z. A range of forms is grown and some strains have semi-double or double fls with frilled corollas, as well as other colours than those collected wild. All wild specimens examined have single pink to crimson fls, and probably had a deep blotch in the centre of each petal. Such plants belong to subsp. amoena from N. coastal areas of California, but at least one other subsp. is cultivated in N.Z. The sp. has previously been known in N.Z. as Godetia amoena.