Flora of New Zealand Series

buttercup bush

Shrub or small tree to 6 m high, not armed; twigs densely hairy, finely ribbed, rounded. Lvs 1-paripinnate, densely hairy on rachis, petiolate; leaflets moderately hairy above, moderately or densely hairy below, oblong or elliptic, slightly asymmetric, subacute and shortly mucronate, entire, subsessile, (10)-15-40 mm long, usually in (4)-5-8 pairs; protruding glands mostly present between each pair of leaflets, often small or deciduous; stipules deciduous. Infl. axillary, racemose, few-flowered, < or ± = lvs; bracts and bracteoles narrow-ovate, deciduous, 3-6 mm long. Calyx teeth unequal, acute or subacute. Corolla deep golden yellow, c. 2 cm long; stamens 7; staminodes 3. Pod indehiscent, hairy, ± straight or slightly curved, terete or slightly flattened, many-seeded, 8-12 cm long; seeds smooth, brown, c. 5 mm long.

N.: scattered localities in S. Auckland, Gisborne, and Hawke's Bay; S.: Nelson City, S. Kaikoura Coast.

C. and tropical S. America 1981

Established locally in waste places as a garden escape.

FL Jan-Jun.

Buttercup bush has been previously known in N.Z. as Cassia tomentosa.