Flora of New Zealand Series

Type: BD 76400a ex garden G. Simpson, 19.3.50.

Perennial, rhizome slender, 1-2 mm. diam., branching and interlacing; stems glab., 15-20 cm. long, including the tall peduncles, decumbent at base then spreading and ascending, branching. Lvs alt. or subopp., or rosulate in young stems and young lateral branches, uniform, thin, membr., glab., obovate- to elliptic-spathulate, cuneately narrowed to a slender flat petiole; c. 3 cm. (including petiole) × 5-6 mm. Margins shallowly serrate in broad part, lamina flat or nearly so. Peduncles solitary from the top of each stem and branch, up to 15 cm. tall, erect or ascending, nude or with 1 or few oblanceolate or linear sessile lvs, simple or branched. Fls 1 to several per peduncle, erect or inclined, drooping in bud. Calyx glab., lobes narrow-acuminate, erect in bud, spreading or recurved in fl., 4-5 × 1 mm., with 1 or 2 small serratures on each side. Corolla always creamy white, c. 15 × 20 mm., with deeply campanulate tube and 5 rotately-spreading ovate apiculate lobes = tube. Style = corolla-tube. Staminal filaments oblong at base with edges recurved and hairy. Capsule glab., broad-cylindric, c. 6 × 4 mm.

DIST.: S. East coast of Marlborough--Rag Saddle, between Kekerangu and the inner Clarence Basin, c. 1500 ft. (G. Simpson); limestone hills above Flaxbourne Creek mouth, c. 100-400 ft. (J. A. Hay).

POLYMORPHY

The spp. are very difficult to analyze and will require much further work; fortunately plants are easily cultivated and multiplied both by seed and by cuttings. It is evident that most spp. contain several true-breeding forms, most clearly marked by fl. and fr. characters. Plants respond readily to habitat conditions producing a number of unstable forms. It is evident that further studies on a geographical basis would be useful.

Named in honour of the late Mr. George Simpson of Dunedin, who discovered this plant and had it in cultivation for several years.

NATURALIZED SPECIES?

Miss R. Mason and Mr. N. T. Moar collected at Otakairingi, North Auckland, plants (BD 69697) possibly introduced from Australia and probably referable to W. tadgellii Lothian in Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W. 71, 1947, 228. These are in fr. only; stems stout, straw-coloured, 2-3 mm. diam.; lvs linear, 3-4 cm. × 5 mm., flat, dentate.

W. tadgellii occurs in heathlands and savannahs in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia. Lothian's description is (abbreviated): "Rootstock perennial, thick, usually branching. Stems one to many arising from a common base, 12-24 inches high, erect or slightly decumbent at the base; rigid, simple or rarely branching, and then at the base only; longish hairs on the basal parts . . . Leaves . . . alternate or sub-opposite, spathulate-lanceolate to lanceolate or linear, acute, 1 inch to 21/2 inch long, 1/16 to 3/16 inch wide, sessile . . . Peduncles rigid, but often slender . . . Flowers rarely more than ⅔ inch diameter . . . deep blue, white throat. Calyx 5-6 sepals, glabrous narrow deltoid acute . . . Corolla 5-lobed, blue, up to 2/3 inch in diameter, lobes ovate lanceolate . . . wide mouth usually with white or yellow base . . . Capsule glabrous, broad obconic, with 10 vertical ribs . . . 1/2 to 2/3 inch long, up to 1/4 inch in diameter . . . Seeds large, 0.75 mm., ovoid oblong, compressed."