Flora of New Zealand Series

Asperula perpusilla Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 144.

Original localities: "Foot of Tongariro, and of the Tararua range". Type: K, W. Colenso 1951; sent as G. tararuense Col., but no precise locality on sheet.

Prostrate to ascending perennial with weak glab. very slender stems and branches; branchlets filiform, occ. bearing a few hairs. Lvs and stipules forming rather close-set to rather distant whorls of 4, sts subimbricating, erect or ascending on filiform petioles c. 0·5 mm. long. Lamina ± 1·5-3-(5) × 1-3 mm., linear- to elliptic-lanceolate to linear-oblanceolate, sts ± arcuate, tapering to acute or acuminate apex, sts apiculate, more often awned; margins us. ciliolate. Fls c. 2 mm. diam., axillary and terminal, solitary, often unisexual; ♂ us. on filiform peduncles 1-1·5 mm. long, ♀ sessile. Corolla-tube 0·5-1-(1·5) mm. long, lobes linear-oblong, obtuse, us. > tube. Style branched near apex, stigma capitate. Fr. up to 4 mm. diam., of 2 obscurely granulate cocci.

DIST.: N., S., St. Lowland to montane in similar habitats to the other spp., sts in drier situations, from c. lat. 37° 30' southwards.

A polymorphic sp., easily grown and amenable to experimental treatment. Hooker calls it "annual", but all specimens I have studied in the field are perennial. Hooker (loc. cit. 114) under Asperula says: "This genus differs from Galium in the campanulate or funnel-shaped corolla, which in the New Zealand species is not a very obvious character." Cheeseman (Man. N. Z. Fl. 1925, 880) remarks of A. perpusilla : "The corolla tube is much shorter than is usual in Asperula, and the species would almost be better placed in Galium."

J. B. Armstrong (T.N.Z.I. 14, 1882, 359) based his Asperula fragrantissima on specimens collected "On dry banks at Fairlie Creek, County of Geraldine; 15 Dec., 1880-Mr. J. F. Armstrong. Also in Selwyn County about 1868 by the same collector." His description includes: "A small creeping perennial bright-green herb (black when dry) forming dense broad patches 1-3 feet across, scarcely raised above the surface of the ground . . . Leaves sessile, entire, in whorls of 4 (2 opposite leaves and 2 leaf-like stipules) 1/12-1/8 inch long or more, linear-oblong, obtuse, rarely sub-acute, not awned, glandular, dotted and slightly pubescent on both surfaces, rather succulent in texture, flaccid when dry. Flowers very numerous, creamy white tinged with rose-in-bud, very fragrant, in axillary clusters of 3-8, rarely only 1, on branched peduncles, which are 1/10-1/8 inch or more, grandular-pubescent and rather stout for the size of the plant. Calyx reduced to an extremely short tube and adnate with the ovary. Corolla 1/10-1/8 inch across, campanulate, split to below the middle into 4, rarely 5, sometimes only 3, rather broad obtuse lobes, which are covered more or less on both surfaces with glistening frost-like particles . . . Ovary inferior, distinctly 2-celled, glandular." The specimens appear to be lost, and the localities should again be searched. Both Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 24 9) and Cheeseman (Man. N. Z. Fl. 1925, 880) suggest that Armstrong may have been dealing with a form of G. umbrosum.

Colenso (T.N.Z.I. 21, 1889, 88) based his A. aristifera on specimens collected in: "open grassy plains, Tahoraiti, south of Dannevirke . . . 1887, flowering in November: W. C." His description includes: "Leaves thickish, glabrous, light-green (as also calyx-tube and branches), 4 in a whorl, 1/12 in. long, sessile, linear-ovate; margins sparsely ciliate; ciliae usually 4, distant, confined to middle of leaf, stout, white, patent; tips acuminate, bi-, tri-, (sometimes quadri-) aristate, divergent . . . Calyx-tube glabrous, laterally compressed. Corolla sub-cam-panulate-rotate, white (sometimes cream-coloured), 11/2 lines diameter, 4- (sometimes 5- rarely 6-) partite, cut nearly to base . . . under Galium I should prefer to place it but for its close natural ally, Asperula perpusilla." The type, in W, labelled by Colenso, well answers the description; there are also a few scraps in fr. in K. Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 248) accepts, probably correctly, Colenso's sp. as a var. of A. perpusilla. A glossy-lvd form, apparently rather common in Marlborough, is also met with, but cultural treatment is desirable.

Shaw and Turrill (Kew Bull. 1928, 81-105) consider that "Probably two species at least occur in New Zealand, where they are endemic. These are certainly closely related morphologically to the Australian A. subsimplex Hook. fil. . . . There is a very decided similarity in habit, between Galium hypnoides Gay from Chile and Asperula perpusilla Hook. f. from New Zealand, while the latter certainly exhibits points of relationship to the Australian A. subsimplex Hook. f. through an intermediate species whose identification is at present uncertain." They suggest that the undescribed species "may possibly turn out to be A. fragrantissima J. B. Armstrong". There is some evidence that the following hybrid groups may occur- G. propinquum × tenuicaule; G. perpusillum × propinquum.