Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Great Barrier Id. Type: W, Kirk, No. 88, 5/1868.

Tree up to 6 m. or more tall with slender trunk; branchlets slender, clad as are young lvs, petioles and infl. branchlets in dense ferruginous tomentum. Lvs of juveniles of very diverse form, from (a) 10-20 × 2-4 mm., linear, sinuate, irregularly toothed or lobed to subentire, (b) 5-10 × 3-5 mm., ovate, ± serrately toothed. Lvs of adults 2.5-6 cm. long, including petiole, 1-2 cm. wide, elliptic-ovate to obovate, sinuate or not. Umbels terminal, 2-5-fld, subtended by lf-like bracts, or fls solitary; peduncles up to 2 cm. long, pedicels slender, c. 1 cm. long. Sepals narrow-ovate, acute to acuminate, clad in ferruginous tomentum; petals dark red, tips reflexed. Capsules subglobose, subcompressed, c. 1 cm. diam., 2-valved; valves slightly furrowed, granulate. Fls and frs are sts met with while plant is still in semi-juvenile stage.

DIST.: N. North Auckland Peninsula, lat. 35° to 35° 30´; Coromandel Peninsula; Great Barrier Id.

Fl. 9-10. Ft. 1-(6).

Kirk (T.N.Z.I. 4, 1872, 265) distinguishes as vars: (a) var. crataegifolia -"leaves linear-lanceolate, irregularly lobed and toothed"; (b) var. serratum -"leaves ovate, acute, crenate-serrate or dentate." These are not referred to by Kirk in Stud. Fl. 1899, 51, where he describes var. sinuatum-"leaves broader, elliptic-oblong or nearly obovate, acute, sinuate". No localities are mentioned. Cheeseman Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 492 makes no varietal distinctions.