Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: "Among fern in dry exposed situations at the Waimate Mission Station." Type: R. Cunningham, 1833.

Dwarf caespitose herb with ∞ creeping stems, rooting at nodes, ascending at tips; stems slender, clad in ash-grey pubescence becoming glab. Lvs opp., crowded, on very short petioles, 4-5 × 2.5 mm., ovate to ovate-oblong, rather thick, glab.; margins undulate-entire or with a few denticles. Fls? Capsules very short, glabrate, dull green; peduncles short, pubescent.

DIST.:

The material of R. Cunningham at K consists of 4 poor scraps without capsules. I did not find the BM material. Haussknecht includes a collection by Colenso in BM from the same locality, Col. No. 109252. The status remains uncertain, but it is clear that the name is not an absolute synonym of E. alsinoides, which as Haussknecht points out, differs in the stems rooting only near their bases, long ascending in upper part; stouter more hairy branches; lvs twice as large.