Flora of New Zealand Series

C. retusa Petrie in T.N.Z.I. 26, 1894, 268 non Hook. f. in Lond. J. Bot. 3, 1844, 415.

Type locality: Clinton Pass. Type: W, D. Petrie, Jan. 1892.

Procumbent shrub with long trailing branches, bark light grey; branchlets ∞, ± tetragonous, pubescent. Lvs on short stout petioles. Stipules short, truncate, with 3 conspicuous denticles, ciliolate. Lamina thick, coriac., glab., on short stout petioles, obovate to obovate-oblong, retuse, cuneately narrowed to base, ± 9-10-(20) × 3-5 mm.; margins thickened, minutely crenulate towards apex. Midrib prominent below, impressed above. Fls solitary, terminal. ♂ without calyx; corolla funnelform, c. 6 mm. long, tube c. 4 mm. long, lobes us. 5, ovate-triangular, acute; stamens us. 5. ♀ with minute calyx-teeth; corolla funnelform to tubular, cut halfway into 5 acute lobes. Drupe yellowish red, ovoid, c. 6 mm. long.

DIST.: S., St. Montane to subalpine bogs and bog-forests from c. lat. 41º 30' southwards.

Oliver (loc. cit. 1935, 101) places this sp. close to C. serrulata on account of "the peculiar crenulate edges to the leaves, the dentate stipules, and the flowers".