Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: End Peak, Lake Hauroko. Type: W, 4846, J. Crosby Smith.

Slender sparingly-branched annual herb 5-20 cm. tall, branches bifariously white-pubescent and ± glandular-pilose, internodes very elongated. Lvs sessile, up to 10-12 × 7-8 mm., ± obovate-cuneate with 2-3 pairs of acute teeth, sts almost suborbicular with teeth obtuse, glab. or with sparse long glandular hairs, sts sparsely white-pubescent, margins thickened and revolute. Fls few towards the tips of the branches, pedicels short or up to 10 mm. in fl., us. elongated and up to 25 mm. in fr. Calyx 4-6 mm. long, sts enlarged in fr. up to 12 × 8 mm., pilose with long glandular hairs and sts also white-pubescent; lobes acute to obtuse, margins and midribs thickened. Corolla white, ± 10-12 mm. long; tube slightly to much > calyx; lobes of lower lip 1·5-3 mm. wide, entire. Anthers yellow to golden brown, margins sparsely hairy to glab., awns slender, almost equal. Capsule ± = calyx or much shorter, ± 5-6 × 5 mm., obovate, finely setose at apex; seeds c. 4-6 per locule.

DIST.: S. West Otago and Fiordland, subalpine to almost sea level in fiords. FL-

FT. 12-(4).

The close relationship between E. australis and E. zelandica has been discussed under the latter sp. Further investigation may prove varietal status more appropriate, and if so Hooker's E. antarctica var. major and var. grandiflora must be taken into consideration for priority of epithet.

The type specimens of E. australis are poorly pressed but match the description in having obtuse lf-teeth and calyx-lobes, closely resembling E. cheesemanii. Similar specimens occur sporadically but us. lf-teeth and calyx-lobes are acute, as in the abundant material from Routeburn in Herb. Petrie (W 4847). S.W. Nelson specimens placed by Petrie in E. australis belong to E. cheesemanii or E. cockayniana.

E. crosby-smithii Petrie in T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 190 was described from a single collecting "Wet alpine meadow on Mount Cleughearn, Fiord County, about 5,000 ft.; J. Crosby Smith". The type sheet (W 4852) contains 3 tiny plants 2 cm. high with fls and capsules on pedicels up to 5 mm. long. Apart from unusually small size these cannot be separated from the other australis / zelandica forms of Fiordland.