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Volume I (1961) - Flora of New Zealand Indigenous Tracheophyta - Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledons
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Nertera Banks & Sol. ex Gaertn.

NERTERA Banks et Sol. ex Gaertn., 1788

Fls 4-5-merous, perfect, solitary, axillary or terminal, sessile or very shortly stalked. Calyx truncate, sts very obscurely toothed; corolla-tube funnelform, lobes valvate; Stamens inserted at base of tube; filaments filiform, far-exserted; anthers large, us. pend.; styles 2, filiform, hairy. Ovary 2-celled, ovules 1 per cell; drupe fleshy, rarely dry; pyrenes 2. Slender, creeping, branching, slightly foetid perennial herbs, rooting at nodes, with opp. lvs and small interpetiolar stipules. Genus of some 15 spp., of Australia, N.Z., Malaya, Central and South America, Tristan d'Acunha.

Key

1
Plant completely or almost completely glab. in all parts
2
Plant distinctly hairy, at least in some parts
4
2
Drupe pyriform, ± 6·5-9 mm. long, yellow to light orange
1. balfouriana
Drupe globose, ± 5 mm. diam., bright to dark red
3
3.
Lamina broad-ovate, (3)-5-8-(15) × (2)-3-5-(10) mm., abruptly narrowed to base
2. depressa
Lamina narrow-ovate, 5-6-8 × 2-3 mm., gradually narrowed to base
3. cunninghamii
4
Mature drupes dry, hispid, not brightly coloured; corolla c. 10 mm. long, anthers far-exserted
6. setulosa
Mature drupes succulent, glab. or nearly so, brightly coloured; corolla c. 5 mm. long; anthers rather shortly exserted
5
5
Lamina ± 6-10-(15) × 6-10-(13) mm., hairy on surfaces
4. dichondrafolia
Lamina ± 3-5 × 3-5 mm., glab. on surfaces, ciliate on margins
5. ciliata

The type of Nertera is N. depressa, described by Solander from specimens collected "in Terra del Fuego prope Success Bay; in Nova Zelandia prope Totaranui". Gaertner (Fruct. 1, 1788, 124, t. 26) published the genus as of Banks and the sp. from material "ex herbario Banksiano. Habitat in regionibus antarcitis, Bacca infera, parva, sphaerica, carnosa, rubra, apice cicatricula rotunda a lapsu corollae notata, bilocularis." Forster (Prodr. 1786, 89) merely listed "501. Nertera depressa. S. Ibidem.", i.e. N.Z.

Gomozia granadensis Mutis in Linn. f.  Suppl Pl. 1781, 129, is thus described: "Habitat in America meridionale, Mutis. Caules herbacei spithamei, diffusi; ramis oppositis, brevioribus. Folia opposita, petiolata, orbiculato-cordata, obtusiuscula, integerrima, laevia. Flores minuti, sessiles, solitarii terminales pallidi." Druce (Rep. bot. (Soc.) Exch. Cl. Manchr. for 1916 1917, 637) considered the sp. of Mutis to be conspecific with N. depressa, and made the new combination N. granadensis (Mutis) Druce, Nertera being a nomen conservandum.

Mexican and Guatemalan specimens of Gomozia granadensis closely resemble some of our forms of N. depressa. A detailed study is necessary, but it seems better meantime to retain the name N. depressa for our sp.; as at present understood it contains several vars.

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