Flora of New Zealand Series

Sheffieldia repens J. R. et G. Forst. Char. Gen. Pl. 1776, 18, t. 9.

Type locality: Dusky Sound. Type: P. There is a Forsterian specimen in K.

Glab. perennial herb with ∞ branches arising from a stout stock. Stems up to ± 4 dm. long, branching, prostrate, rooting at nodes or sprawling. Lvs fleshy, alt. or occ. fascicled, on petioles up to 15 mm. long. Lamina (5)-7-15-(25) × (2)-4-6-(10) mm., narrow-obovate to narrow-spathulate. Fls 6-7 mm. diam., axillary, solitary, on peduncles ± 10 mm. long. Receptacle adnate to lower half of ovary; calyx with acute triangular to ovate lobes ± 4 mm. long; corolla broadly ovate-oblong, white, ± 6 mm. long. Style slender, stigma capitate; capsule 4-5 mm. diam., broad-ovoid.

DIST.: K., N., S., St., Ch., A. Coastal salt-marshes and rocky places throughout. Also Australia, Tasmania, New Caledonia, Easter Id.

FL.-- FT. 11-2.

A somewhat plastic sp., the status of the different forms not certainly ascertained. Knuth (Pflanzenr. 22, 1905, 344) describes his var. procumbens as: "Procumbens vel ascendens. Rami foliaque glabri vel vix verrucosi. Fig. 74 A." The distribution is given as Australia, Tasmania, N.Z., Pacific Is, South America. The figure shows what appears to be an erect plant.

Cockayne (T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 199) describes his var. strictus thus: "Caules erecti, ± 20 cm. alti, stricti; folia ± imbricata, linearia vel lineari-lanceolata, acuta. Kermadec Islands; W. R. B. Oliver. Poor Knights Islands; L. C. Norfolk Island; R. M. Laing." Type locality: Poor Knights Is. Type: W, Herb. Cockayne.