Flora of New Zealand Series

C. densiflora Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1854, 186.

Hooker's description is: "caule filiformi, racemis dense congestis 4-8-floris, calyce breviter 5-lobo, corolla subcampanulata glandulis linearibus notata, filamentis crassiusculis, squamis late oblongis obtusis fimbriatis basi membrana brevissima cohaerentibus, stylis 2, stigmatibus capitatis. Hab. Middle Island. Port Underwood, Lyall."

The later description (Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 199) is: "Stems slender, matted and twisting together, as thick as stout thread. Flowers crowded into very short 6-10-flowered racemes. Calyx-lobes short, oblong, obtuse. Corolla ⅛ in. long, bell-shaped; lobes short, rounded, recurved. Scales oblong, fimbriated, united at their bases by a thin membrane. Filaments longer than the anthers; styles rather long. . . . Dr. Engelmann . . . observes of this that it hardly differs from the South Brazilian C. racemosa, Martius; but according to the description of that plant, the corolla-lobes are erect and acute, and the filaments and style much shorter."

The type specimen at K is in good order: Stems capillary; cymes densely congested, ± 8-fld. Calyx hardly 2 mm. long, cut to c. 1/2 way to base; lobes obovate-oblong, rounded at tips. Corolla ± 3-4 mm. long; lobes c. 1·5 mm. long, oblong, obtuse, very slightly inflexed. Anthers not or hardly exserted, filaments c. 0.75 mm. long. Styles filiform; stigma minute, capitate, at level of anthers. Scales fimbriate, united at base by delicate membrane.

Yuncker (loc. cit.) had seen a Lyall specimen in the herbarium of the Missouri Botanical Garden, and remarks: "The perianth lobes are blunter and shorter than is normal for C. suaveolens, and the corolla-lobes are not markedly inflexed. Only one seed was found in the capsules opened, otherwise it appears to be similar to the typical form."