Flora of New Zealand Series

type: BD 21394, Island Bay, Wellington, H. H. Allan.

Prostrate or sprawling subshrub with stout branches ± 4 mm. diam., and up to 6 dm. long; branchlets farinose, becoming glab. Lvs on petioles 5-10-(25) mm. long; lamina 10-20-(50) × 7-20-(40) mm. (lvs of infl. region often reduced to 5 × 3 mm.) triangular-hastate; ± farinose, coarsely toothed in lower half, ± apiculate at apex. Infl. of clustered fls in axillary and terminal spikes up to ± 5 cm. long; bracteoles ± 3 mm. long, ovate-triangular with subcuneate base; margins ± toothed.

DIST.: Coastal gravels and sands: N. Coasts of Wellington area of Cook Strait. S. Near Dunedin. Iso

The specimens in BD are labelled A. hastata ssp. novae-zelandiae by Aellen. One specimen from Dunedin (BD 21412, G. Simpson) he has labelled var. angusta. It has laminae ± 15-20 × 5 mm., with an occ. one up to 30 × 20 mm. The spikes are rather more slender, the bracteoles slightly smaller. The whole series of hastata forms in N.Z. needs still further study.