Echium candicans L.f.
pride of Madeira
Branched shrub to c. 2.5 m high. Lvs on vegetative shoots usually to 20 × 5.5 cm, densely clothed in ± appressed, hirsute or hispid hairs and often appearing grey or silvery; hairs on upper surface often with bulbous bases; lamina decurrent on petiole and slightly amplexicaul; apex acuminate or nearly so; lvs on flowering shoots smaller and sessile. Infl. a dense columnar panicle of cymes, 20-40 cm high, with linear-lanceolate bracts subequal to cymes. Calyx 3-5 mm long, lanceolate to ovate, < corolla tube. Corolla 7-12 mm long, pale blue to deep blue and purple; upper lobes slightly larger. Stamens long-exserted; filaments filiform, usually pink or red. Nutlets 2-3 mm long.
N.: scattered localities, established on Bluff Hill, Napier; S.: scattered localities, Nelson, Banks Peninsula (very common on the Port Hills), Otago Peninsula.
Macaronesia 1959
Coastal cliffs, steep, dry volcanic slopes.
FL (Jan)-Jun-Nov-(Dec).
This sp. is illustrated in Plate 1. It has previously been known in N.Z. as E. fastuosum.
