Flora of New Zealand Series

Huttonella curta (Petrie) Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 116.

Type locality: Near Duntroon. Type: W, 224/510, Petrie Herb., D. Petrie.

Slender rather sparingly branched ± sprawling shrub up to 1 m. long; branchlets 1-2 mm. diam., subterete, grooved, ± pilose when young. Lvs 1-3-foliolate; lflts small, narrow, ± pilose. Infl. of 8-10-fld congested racemes on pilose peduncles up to 10 mm. long (us. much shorter). Fls ± 4 × 3 mm. on pilose pedicels ± 1 mm. long. Calyx pilose, ± 1 × 1 mm.; teeth minute, ciliolate. "Corolla rather large, creamy-yellow striped with purple; the standard longer than the wings, broad, very obtuse" (fide Petrie, loc. cit.). "Standard 3 mm. broad, purple in 2 bands from base to tip, elsewhere white striped with purple" (fide Simpson loc. cit. 281). Keel greenish, purple at apex, auricles bluntly pointed; wings white, purple at apex, auricles bluntly pointed. Ovary pilose. Pods glab. or nearly so when mature, 3-4-(5) × 2-3 mm., light brown, ± turgid, breadth > depth; beak rather stout ± 1 mm. long, ± curved (the slender stylar portion long-persistent). Seeds (1)-2-(3), pale to yellowish green, black-mottled, ± 1 mm. diam.

DIST.: S. Gravelly soils and river-terraces, valley of Waitaki to near Oamaru.

The few fresh fls I have seen support Simpson's statement of fl.-colour. Petrie's account may have been based on dry material.

Simpson's var. glabra (loc. cit. 282) is thus described: "Slender, 0·5 m. high or a little longer and decumbent, more closely branched than the type. Branchlets very slender, green or reddish-brown, everywhere glabrous. Flowers smaller, 3 mm. long. Ovary glabrous. Pods as the species. Seeds slightly larger, pale green, heavily marked with black. Habitat: Gravelly soils, Waitaki Valley, North Otago." Type: BD 45906A (G. S. 97) "Shingly bank near Waitaki Dam".

The type specimen has finely grooved, sparsely hairy branchlets ± 1-1·5 mm. diam.; fls up to 4 mm. long; peduncles and pedicels densely hairy; calyx hairy. Ovary with at least a few hairs. Seeds c. 1·5 mm. diam. The populations concerned need closer study.