Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Cape Whanbrow. Type: W, D. Petrie no. 347.

Small slender ± pilose herb with mainly radical lvs; stock uni-multicipital; main root deeply descending. Lvs on slender petioles up to 3 cm. long, sheathing at base. Lamina 1-5-(10) cm. long, narrow-oblong in outline; pinnate (to pinnatisect or pinnatifid in upper portion); pinnae us. deeply sharply serrate on anterior margin, teeth sts piliferous. Stems us. several, branched, prostrate, up to 30 cm. long, us. less, very slender, ± flexuous, bearing a few narrow-spathulate to narrow-obovate to linear entire or serrate lvs. Racemes slender, terminal, ± 3 cm. long; fls minute, us. ∞.Sepals 4, petals us. 0, stamens 4. Pods orbicular on very slender peduncles, narrowly winged. towards apex, minutely notched; style hardly > notch. Seeds oblong in outline, finely muriculate.

DIST.: Sandy and stony beaches: N. Kapiti Id, Titahi Bay and adjacent coast. S. Cape Whanbrow near Oamaru southwards.

FL. 10-1. FT. 11-2.

Kirk (T.N.Z.I. 14, 1882, 381) described his L. australe from specimens collected by himself at Cape Whanbrow and others collected near Cromwell by Petrie. "An erect, much-branched, leafy species, 10"-15" high. Radical lvs 3"-6" long . . . Allied to L. tenuicaule from which it differs widely in habit, in the racemes being leafy at the base and in the somewhat wider pod, which is usually emarginate." The type may be taken as the plant in W labelled T. Kirk, 350. In Stud. Fl. 1899, 38. he reduced it to a var. australe of L. tenuicaule and cited only Cape Whanbrow. On several visits to the area I could find no more than luxuriant, habitat-induced form of L. tenuicaule.

Cheeseman (T.N.Z.I. 43, 1911, 175) based his var. minor on specimens collected at Titahi Bay, near Wellington, by B. C. Aston: "Planta pumila, depressa; caulibus brevissimis, 1-21/2 cm. longis; foliis numerosibus [sic.], omnibus radicalibus." Later (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 473) he added specimens from Kapiti Id and says: "small, depressed, thick and fleshy, seldom more than an inch or so in height". Plants from Kapiti grown in my garden assumed the ordinary state. Plants of this sp. established themselves for some years on gravelled paths at Oamaru.