Flora of New Zealand Series

Small low shrub; stems usually prostrate and matted, sometimes rooting, but sometimes forming a bush to 1 m tall; branches flexuous and often much interlaced. Branchlets moderately hairy and with some long, weak bristles. Lvs rather distant, alternate, 6-12 × 1-1.5 mm, linear, often rolled and strongly recurved, thick, glabrous; veins usually rather indistinct; margins with up to 6 indistinct teeth on either side; teeth usually in opposite pairs and sometimes bristle-pointed. Fls solitary and axillary. Pedicels to 2-(4) mm long, glabrous, with 4, 6 or more decussate bracts at the base. Bracts ovate, with densely ciliate margins. Calyx lobes ciliate. Corolla glabrous or sparsely hairy inside. Stamens < style; filaments 1.0-1.2 mm long, dilated near base, densely papillose. Anthers c. 0.8 mm long, with awns to 0.4 mm long. Fr. a globose berry, c. 5 mm diam., pale to deep pink.

N.; S.; St.: mountainous regions from Lake Taupo southwards, often very local, 600-1600 m but descending to sea level in St.

Endemic.

Coastal to alpine shrubland and grassland, sometimes in open forest and scrub.

FL Nov-Jan.