Flora of New Zealand Series

Astorganthus huegelii Endl. Cat. Hort. vindob. 2, 1843, 196.

Type locality: "Forests near the source of the Hokianga river.-1826, A. Cunningham." Type: BM ?

Glab., ± divaricate shrub up to 30 dm. or more tall; branchlets slender. Lvs of seedling and young plants 3-foliolate, on very slender petioles up to c. 2 cm. long; lflts ± 5-10 × 3-10 mm., ± rhomboid; margins crenulate to subentire. Lvs of mature plants mostly 1-foliolate, on slender flattened petioles up to 5 mm. long; alt. or clustered on short arrested branchlets; (5)-10-15-(20) × (5)-10-15-(20) mm., rhomboid to suborbicular, gland-dotted, crenulate. Infl. of 1-4 axillary fls, on very slender peduncles up to 5 mm. long; bracts minute, ovate. Fls perfect to unisexual, c. 5 mm. diam.; sepals minute, triangular; petals ± 3 mm. long, greenish to clear white; stamens exserted in ♂.♀ with pilose ovary; style exserted; stigma capitate, obscurely 4-lobed. Fr. and seed as in M. ternata, but smaller.

DIST.: N., S. Frequent on outskirts of coastal and lowland forests from near North Cape southwards.

FL. 9-11. FT. 12-2-(4).

In the type cover at K is a specimen of M. simplex collected by R. Cunningham in 1834, "on the banks of the Kahio river, Wangaroa, 25 feet high sometimes". Lamina ± 15 × 12-14 mm., crenulate.

REMARKS

Buchanan (T.N.Z.I. 3, 1871, 212) described his M. mantelli from plants "common in the neighbourhood of Wellington, associated with Melicope ternata and Melicope simplex. From the first of these it is easily distinguished by the darker green foliage, smaller flat leaves, hirsute carpels, and smaller fruit; and from the latter by its larger, ternate leaves, flowers, and fruit." Kirk (For. Fl. 1889, t. 66) reduced Buchanan's sp. to a var. of M. ternata. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 94) suggested a hybrid origin. Field observations have abundantly supported this view. Allan (Genetica 7, 1925, 287-92) described a hybrid swarm that had arisen after the partial destruction of a forest near Titahi Bay, Wellington. Buchanan (T.N.Z.I. 20, 1888, 255) described his M. parvula as "A small glabrous shrub, 5-6 feet high. Branches very slender. Leaves opposite, in distinct pairs, 1/5 inch long. obovate, and obscurely crenate; peduncles 1/10 inch long. Flowers in minute clusters, in the axils of the leaves . . . Near Dunedin." No further study has been made, and the status remains uncertain.

Sexual expression in both spp. has been little studied. G. M. Thomson (T.N.Z.I. 24, 1892, 416) gave a short account of the phenomenon in M. simplex, and a detailed account of plants on Pigeon Id, Lake Wanaka, bearing cleistogamic fls in profusion and no "normal" ones.