Flora of New Zealand Series

C. retusa Hook. f. in. Lond. J. Bot. 3, 1844, 415.

C. baueriana Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 104.

C. baueri auct. non  Endl. Iconogr. 1841, t. 111.

C. stockii Williams Choice Stove & Greenh. Pl. ed. 2, 1876. 166.

Type locality: Astrolabe Harbour. Type: P, Lesson, 1827.

Shrub or tree up to 8 m. tall, depressed to prostrate when very stongly insolated; branches stout, bark light brown; branchlets pubescent when young. Lvs on stout glab. petioles 8-16 mm. long. Stipules broad-triangular, subacute to subtruncate, glab.; denticles several, conspicuous, central one prominent. Lamina thick, subfleshy, very glossy, dark green above, paler below; broad-oblong to broadly ovate-oblong, rounded to truncate to retuse or emarginate, sts apiculate; ± 6-8 × 4-5 cm. (shade lvs); 2-3 × 1·5-2 cm. (sun lvs); margins recurved, sts inrolled. Reticulations evident above and below. Fls in compound clusters on branched peduncles. ♂ many per cluster; calyx-teeth minute; corolla funnelform, lobes 4-5, acute, ± = tube. ♀ us. 3 per cluster; calyx-teeth short, obtuse; corolla subfunnelform, c. 5 mm. long, lobes acute or obtuse, < tube; stigmas stout. Drupe orange-red, depressed-obovoid, ± 10 × 8 mm.

DIST.: K., Three Kings, N., S. Coastal islets and mainland to c. lat. 41º 30'. Rocky places, shrubland and forest near sea. Taupata.

A plastic sp.―the habit much influenced by the habitat, especially the degree of insolation. Cockayne (T. N. Z. I. 38, 1906, 341-345) discusses "a specific case of leaf-variation". "When growing on cliffs and rocks it is frequently prostrate, being flattened closely against the rock-surface, but when in more sheltered situations and in deeper soil it is a small tree with a fairly thick trunk and dense crown of foliage; in fact, the two extreme forms are so unlike that they might easily be mistaken for two different species." Of the recurving of the If-margin he says: "This latter character is frequently carried to such a pitch that each half of the blade is rolled round itself, or the one half may be rolled round the other, the leaf thus presenting the appearance of a pipe." Similar observations are made by Oliver (loc. cit. 118).