Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Probably Dusky Sound. Type: The Forsterian sheet at K has a much-branched piece and smaller ones, all now lfless; bark furrowed, dark-brown.

Erect densely divaricately branched shrub up to c. 2 m. tall (occ. prostrate on boulder beaches). Branchlets us. flexible, ± interlaced, densely to sparsely clad in stellate hairs, soon glab., grooved; bark dark brown. Lvs alt. or in small fascicles on arrested branchlets: of young plants ± 2-3 cm. × 3-5 mm., membr., linear- to spathulate-oblong, on petioles ± 3 mm. long, glab. or nearly so, midrib obscure; of adult plants ± 5-15-(20) × 0·5-2-(4) mm., ± clad in stellate hairs, linear-spathulate to narrow-obovate, subcoriac., us. obtuse, ± falcate, midrib prominent. Reversion shoots occ. with lvs up to 40 × 5 mm. Fls up to c. 5 mm. diam., axillary, solitary or in few-fld cymes on arrested branchlets; peduncles and pedicels ± 3 mm. long. Calyx campanulate, ± 2 mm. diam., teeth triangular; corolla tube ± 2 mm. long, exserted; lobes about oblong, acute, yellowish; anthers 8-12, sessile on staminal tube. Ovary 1-(2)-celled; ovule 1 per cell; stigma clavate or flattened. Mature fr. globose, ± 5 mm. diam., occ. didymous, densely clad in appressed stellate hairs, dehiscing irregularly from apex; seeds 1-(3).

DIST.: N., S., St., Ch. Coastal, marginal to salt swamp throughout, or on sandy or gravelly banks, extending somewhat inland by estuarine waters.

FL. 9-11. FT. 12-3.

A somewhat polymorphic sp. as yet not adequately studied. Hooker, Kirk and Cheeseman speak of the plant as glab., but stellate hairs are quite evident on young branchlets, lvs and infl. in most plants I have seen. The juvenile lvs are less strikingly different from the adult lvs than they are in P. betulinus. The prone plants are probably habitat-modifications.

Buchanan (T.N.Z.I. 16, 1884, 394, t. 34, f. 1) described his P. linariifolia thus: "A slender upright dense foliaged shrub, with long fascicled leaves. Flowers not seen. Fruit of one indehiscent capsule; capsule narrow, oblong, adherent to the carpel, slightly downy at first, when mature shining black. This distinct species is probably peculiar to the west coast of the South Island." Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 71, 242) first stated that Buchanan's plant "appears to be an undescribed Coprosma, but the material is not sufficient to allow of determination." Next he placed the name as an absolute synonym of C. kirkii Cheesem., a course adopted by Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 871). Both ignore the fact that Buchanan describes his sp. as being upright and occurring in localities where C. kirkii has not been recorded.

Oliver (Bull. Bishop Mus., Honolulu 132, 1935, 47) after studying Buchanan's type specimen concluded it belonged to his sp. C. antipoda (the epithet linariifolia being preoccupied) occurring in the west of South Id and in the Antipodes Id.

Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 70) described his P. cymosus from specimens collected at: "Upper Waimakariri, J. D. Enys!, 2800 ft. Dunedin, Petrie! Apparently local." His description includes: "A shrub or small tree with slender almost divaricating branches. Leaves . . . linear-oblong or oblong, obtuse, sinuate with one or two obtuse teeth on each side, 1/2 in.-3/4 in. long . . ." The Waimakariri specimens have not been found. Petrie's specimens (in W (Kirk's herb.) now numbered 713) came from a garden plant in Dunedin. There are two branched pieces with lvs ± 5-15 × 2-5 mm., about obovate-oblong, entire to sparingly bluntly toothed on slender petioles c. 3 mm. long. Fls in few-fld small cymes. Similar plants have been noted sporadically from lat. 35° southwards in both islands, and also in Chatham Is.

Cheeseman (Ill. N.Z. Fl. 1, 1914, t. 21) pointed out that these plants stand "nearly half way between the two species. The suspicion of a hybrid origin at once arises." Cockayne and Allan (T.N.Z.I. 56, 1926, 21) described and illustrated a number of lf-forms from plants at Kaitaia, Pelorus Valley and Chatham Is. The polymorphic series along the Pelorus R. leaves no doubt that P. betulinus and P. divaricatus there hybridize. Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 29) remark: "The group is especially interesting owing to the extreme diversity of the parents in life-form and habitat requirements."