Flora of New Zealand Series

Exarrhena macrantha Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 195.

Original localities: Dun Mountain, Sinclair; Wairau and Wai-au, Travers; Hopkins river, Haast; Lindis Hills, Hector and Buchanan. Type: K.

Rosettes few or many, lvs obovate- to lanceolate-spathulate, 3-12 × 0.6-2 cm., narrowing rather abruptly to subacute tip and gradually to broad petiole almost as long as lamina; hairs tapering and flexuous, appressed or spreading, on undersurface shorter, sparser, often appressed, retrorse except sts at tip. Lateral branches few per rosette, ascending to erect, up to 30 cm. long, internodes us. < lvs. Stem-lvs decreasing upwards, lower ones oblong, uppermost c. 2 × 0.6 cm., lanceolate with truncate base and subacute tip; hairs long, fine, us. crowded and appressed on upper surface, on undersurface sparser, shorter and more spreading, often retrorse towards base of lower stem-lvs. Cymes ebracteate, us. simple or once branched, 8-fld, up to 7 cm. long in fr., internodes < calyx in fr.; pedicels very short. Calyx 6-8-(9) mm. long, lobes us. slightly > 1/2 length, obtuse, rather broad; hairs long and spreading near top, medium and hooked about middle, short and spreading or retrorse near base, short appressed hairs throughout. Corolla yellow to brownish orange, narrow-funnelform, 6-8 mm. diam., tube up to 10 mm. (occ. 15 mm.) to level of scales, more to sinus of lobes; scales small or absent, sts variously developed in one fl., lobes rounded, c. 3 × 2.5 mm., not widely spreading; filaments broad, fixed just below scales (if any), c. = anthers which are 1·5-2·2 mm. long and wholly above scale-level; style at least 2 × calyx in fr., stigma capitate. Nutlets oblong, c. 3 × 1·5 mm.

DIST.: S. Mountains from Nelson to southwest Otago.

FL. 12-2. FT. 1-3.

Three vars have been described:

Var. pulchra Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 471. "Similar in size and habit but more diffuse and less hispid. Leaves thinner and more membranous, sometimes almost glabrous beneath. Corolla ?-3/4 in. long; tube much broader, almost campanulate, scales wanting in all the flowers examined. Filaments shorter than the anthers; anthers just reaching the sinus between the corolla lobes." No locality given. Lectotype: A, 7562, Mt. Arthur, Nelson, Jan. 1886, T. F. C. In most Nelson specimens seen rosette-lvs soon become glab. beneath except for retrorse hairs on midrib.

Var. westlandica Petrie in T.N.Z.I. 50, 1918, 210. "A forma typica differt foliis radicalibus longioribus multo tenuioribus anguste obovatis molliter pilosis, venis a costa ad venam sub-marginalem conspicuam oblique progredientibus, culmis longioribus gracilioribusque, floribus flavis. In a moist shady ravine on Rangi Taipo, Jackson's, Taramakau River; about 4,000 ft.: L. Cockayne, D.P." Type: W, 2366, D.P. Jan. 1893.

Var. diversa Simpson et Thomson in T.R.S.N.Z. 73, 1943, 162. "Foliis radicalibus 5-7 cm. longis, 1-1·5 cm. latis, obovato-spathulatis, floribus intus albis vel ochroleucis, extus purpureis; corollae tubo 1·5 cm. longo, gracile, infundibuliforme distinguitur ... Stony debris." Type locality: Slopes of Mt. Pollux, at the head of the Wilkin River, Lake Wanaka. Type: BD 75723, G. Simpson and J. S. Thomson.

Judging by type specimens none of these vars is sufficiently distinct to be maintained without further evidence. Size, texture and degree of hairiness of lvs are unreliable characters easily affected by growing place, and the kind of hairs is similar in all. Fl.-colour and exact shape of corolla-tube show a range not correlated with other characters. Filaments in all fls examined including some of types of vars are free for approximately the length of the anthers, none being much shorter, as claimed for var. pulchra, or twice as long as the anthers, as in description of var. diversa. Scales are often poorly developed in this sp. and are sts unequally developed in one fl. The conspicuous oblique veins mentioned by Petrie in var. westlandica are seen equally plainly in Raglan Range specimens labelled var. pulchra by Cheeseman; this is probably a constant character of the lf in this sp. but is seen only when indumentum is sparse and texture membr.

No good vegetative character has been found to distinguish M. macrantha from M. explanata though the long narrow strongly coloured fls of the former with anthers wholly beyond the ill-developed scales differ greatly from the shorter, salverform, pure white fls of the latter with filaments wholly below large scales and at most half of each anther projecting.