Flora of New Zealand Series

Viscum clavatum Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 24, 1892, 429, t. 37.

K. clavata Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 1151.

Plant up to c. 8 cm. long, us. shorter; branches few, at a wide angle; internodes ± 5-10 × 1·5-3·5 mm., narrow-spathulate. Flowering branches narrower, us. solitary, ± 10-15 mm. long. Fr. pyriform, viscid.

DIST.: S. Castle Hill Basin; on Coprosma spp., Aristotelia fruticosa and Discaria toumatou.

The status of the forms placed under var. clavata still needs further study. I have seen only herbarium specimens. These are by no means uniform in vegetative characters, and rather suggest the origin lindsayi × salicornioides. Stevenson (loc. cit. 180) who studied fresh material, concluded that K. clavata was worthy of specific rank.