Haloragis incana (A.Cunn.) Walp.
Cercodia incana A. Cunn. in Ann. nat. Hist. 3, 1839, 30.
H. tetragyna var. incana Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 148.
Type locality: "Wangaroa, dry exposed rocky hills". Type: K, A. Cunningham.
Wiry, erect or diffusely branched herb up to 40 cm. tall, scabrid with stiff white appressed hairs; stems obscurely tetragonous. Lvs opp. on very short petioles, elliptic-lanceolate, from c. 8 mm. long with 2-3 incisures in cartilaginous margin to 15 mm. long with up to 6 sharp teeth on each side, hairs on both surfaces. Infl. racemose, bracts alt., lfy, lanceolate, almost entire, 2-3 mm. long. Fls erect, strongly pro-tandrous, c. 3 mm. long; sepals triangular, glab. with incomplete cartilaginous margin and basal triangle; petals hooded, with strong stiff hairs on keels; stamens 4 opp. sepals, staminodes 4 opp. petals; ovary 8-angled, minutely hairy on ribs, ovoid-globose; styles 4, very short, erect, stigmas with long multicellular hairs. Fr. pale, c. 1·25 mm. long, ovoid, constricted below sepals, 8 vertical ribs distinct and retaining some stiff hairs, faces between minutely papillose and ± obliquely rugose; pericarp hard, 1 loculus, us. 1-seeded.
DIST.: N., northern part of S. On dry hard ground.
FL. 11-1. FT. 11-3.
This and the following sp. were formerly included with the Australian H. tetragyna (Labill.) Hook. f. Hooker (Fl. N.Z. 1, 1852, 62) recognized two forms in N.Z. and these have been treated as endemic spp. since Cheeseman's revision (T.N.Z.I. 42, 1910, 201-3). Specific differences hitherto emphasized (habit of plant and size and shape of lvs) leave many individuals difficult to place, but fr. characters seem to define two fairly clear-cut groups; Petrie's determinations suggest that he recognized and used these criteria, but the two kinds are mixed in Cheeseman's H. procumbens folder at A. Frs are either (a) more ovoid, more strongly patterned, with some hairs on ribs, and us. paler (H. incana), or (b) more cylindrical, smoother, glab., and us. darker (H. procumbens). Type (b) has been found only on small-lvd plants that are us. procumbent and rarely if ever so hispid as to be called "cano-villosa" -the term applied originally by Cunningham to his Cercodia incana; type (a) occurs also on small-lvd plants which are, however, us. more erect and more hispid; large-lvd and very erect plants produce only type (a). Fr. characters also seem to offer good differences from H. tetragyna to which, in this as in other respects, H. incana is clearly more closely allied than is H. procumbens.
H. incana as delimited here has a wider geographical distribution than is indicated by Cheeseman (not south of Whangarei), but is still much more restricted than H. procumbens and is absent from many districts within its latitudinal range. Petrie recognized it as far south as Raglan County.
