Flora of New Zealand Series

bush lawyer

Liane with stout stems, or a dense, mound-like shrub of intertwining branchlets; stems terete, finely tomentose especially when young; armature of small, reddish prickles, or 0. Lvs palmate; leaflets 3-(5), glabrous or almost glabrous and rugose on upper surface, usually white- to brown-tomentose on lower surface and sometimes greyish or glaucous, sometimes glabrous to almost glabrous on lower surface also, coarsely serrate; terminal leaflet lamina usually narrow- to broad-ovate, oblong or lanceolate, rarely linear or narrow-linear, 25-70 × 4-40 mm, with petiolule 10-30-(50) mm long. Infl. a many-flowered, sometimes compact, panicle, up to 10-(25) cm long. Petals white to cream. Drupelets yellowish or orange.

N.; S.; St.

Endemic.

Lowland to montane forest, scrub and exposed rocky sites throughout.

FL Sep-Dec FT Oct-Apr.

R. schmidelioides is very variable in leaflet shape and indumentum. The leaflets of mature lvs are typically narrow-ovate or lanceolate and tomentose beneath, but leaflets of juvenile plants are much narrower and usually glabrous. In lowland E. South Id mature plants often retain this juvenile leaflet form in open habitats; such plants are then easily distinguished from R. cissoides and R. australis by the narrow leaflets. The name var. subpauperatus (Cockayne) Allan has been applied to plants with narrow, glabrous or hairy leaflets in this area; the type is from Mason Bay (St.). Another form, with broad leaflets, hairy beneath and usually 5 per lf, occurs in N.W. Nelson.