Flora of New Zealand Series

P. polifolia Reiss. et F. Muell. in Linnaea 29, 1858, 269.

Type locality: Mitta Mitta, Victoria, Australia. Type: K, F. Mueller.

Closely branched lfy shrub up to 1·5 m. tall, young stems and buds often hoary with simple white hairs. Sun lvs c. 10 × 3 mm., shade lvs 20 × 10 mm., in seedlings sts larger, cymbiform to oval, entire, deeply grooved at midrib, margins recurved all round except in softest lvs; petiole 1-2 mm.; upper surface dark green with soft simple hairs, lower surface white with close, mostly stellate, hairs, midrib prominent with long simple hairs; stipules narrow, dark, to 3 mm. long, scarious, hairy, often conspicuous. Infl. of axillary corymbs produced freely along twigs, rather frequently with a larger terminal group; outer bracts broad-triangular, brown, scarious, persistent; buds rounded; pedicels c. 2.5 mm. long. Fls very pale yellow, 4-5 mm. diam.; calyx-tube with close indumentum and many long simple hairs; sepals c. 2 mm. long; petals 0 or represented in some fls (especially in cultivated plants) by a petaloid outgrowth from a filament; stamens = sepals; style divided almost to base; capsule c. 4 mm. long, c. ⅓ immersed in calyx-tube, losing sepals early; operculum occupying most of inner face of coccus; seeds large, up to 2·2 × 1·6 mm., dark brown, shining.

DIST.: N. Short scrub on dry hills south of Spirits Bay and at Te Kao, R. H. Michie; David Id, Hauraki Gulf (A, 23323, B. E. G. Molesworth 10.11.47, fl.). FL. 10-11.

FT. 11-12.

Differs from  var. ericifolia in greater size of all parts, in less tightly rolled lvs, in more complex corymbs, especially the terminal ones, and in the presence of petaloid outgrowths in some fls. Plants from a colony discovered near Spirits Bay by R. H. Michie in 1946 come true from seed and have maintained their characteristics in a number of gardens. At Otari Open Air Plant Museum, Wellington, this var. flowers a month earlier than  var. ericifolia growing nearby, but in the Far North the flowering periods overlap. J. B. Hair finds that anthers mature earlier in buds, chromosome number differs from that of  var. ericifolia, and chromosome behaviour is regular. At Te Kao, along with the form described above, Mr Michie has discovered one similar in appearance but with the upper lf-surfaces all glab.