Flora of New Zealand Series

Semi-upright or semi-scrambling, ± stellate-puberulent, unarmed shrub to c. 3.5 m tall; vegetative shoots long, sometimes zigzagging, densely stellate-hairy when young. Petioles to 2 cm long. Lamina 2-12-(15.5) × 0.8-5-(10.7) cm, often small on flowering branches, ovate or oblong-ovate, becoming glabrate except on midrib, entire; base truncate to subcordate; apex usually acute or cuspidate. Cymes in large, dense, many-flowered panicles borne on short lateral leafy branches; rachis to c. 8 cm long, tomentulose; peduncles and pedicels < rachis but with similar indumentum, ± erect to spreading at fruiting. Calyx 2-3 mm long, densely puberulent; lobes ± broad-triangular, very shallow, scarcely accrescent. Corolla 2-3 cm diam., mauve, mostly with darker base and streak down middle of lobes; lobes triangular-lanceolate or ovate, tomentulose with branched hairs, the margins undulate. Anthers 3-4 mm long. Berry 9-11 mm diam., globose, pale yellow; stone cells 0. Seed not seen.

S.: North side of Banks Peninsula, well-established near Bluecliffs Station (near St Andrews, S. Canterbury), Otago Peninsula and at Taieri.

Chile, Peru 1974

Occasional in and around forest remnants and scrub.

FL Oct-Mar.

This attractive sp. is an escape from cultivation, and fruits and seeds freely.