Flora of New Zealand Series

Type: There is a Forster specimen at K. The description is merely: "Foliis alternis lineari-lanceolatis trinerviis, caule suffruticuloso."

Glab. perennial herb or subshrub up to 4 dm. or more tall. Stems branched or simple, soft-wooded below from a stout stock; branches erect or ascending. Lvs alt., ∞, subsessile, ascending to patent, 5-25 × 2-5 mm., subcoriac., midrib evident, acute to acuminate, subglaucous, narrow-lanceolate to linear or narrow-oblong. Fls up to 30 mm. diam., corymbosely arranged at tips of branches on slender pedicels up to 10 mm. long. Sepals ovate to ovate-lanceolate, ± 6-7 mm. long, ± united at base; petals white to slightly blued, obovate, very shortly clawed, up to c. 16 × 10 mm.; styles united at base. Capsule broad-ovoid to broad-cylindric, 5-10 mm. diam. Seeds compressed, ± oblong in outline, c. 5 × 2 mm., dull to slightly glossy, dark brown.

DIST.; N., S., St., Ch. Rocky places and dunes, coastal to inland in lower montane areas.

FL.- FT. 10-2. Type locality not stated.

The sp. deserves cultural and genetic study. The following forms have been briefly described:

(a) var. grandiflorum Sol. ex Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1852, 28; "erectum, corymboso-ramosum, multiflorum, floribus magnis." Solander's specimens came from "Totaranui"; probably the Totaranui near East Cape, N., not the Totaranui near Takaka in S. I found no specimens so named at K. Hooker (Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 35) adds fl. size as 1/2-1 in.

(b) var. diffusum Sol. ex Hook. f. loc. cit. : "minus, decumbens v. ascendens, ramis 1-floris, floribus parvis". I found no specimens at K answering this description; Solander gives the localities: "prope Tigadu, Tolaga, Opuragi, Motuaro." Similar forms have been collected at Russell, Bay of Islands, and Mahia Peninsula. The status of these dwarf forms needs examination. The plants at Russell and Mahia peninsula have stems simple, up to 15 cm. long, lvs mostly < 1 cm. long, ascending at base. curving outwards above; infl. few-fld, sepals c. 5 mm. long. Hooker (Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 35) adds fl. size as 1/4-1/2 in.

(c) var. chathamica Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 34, 1902, 320; "Petals broadly striped or flaked with pale blue". Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 537) accepts this var. and adds: "occurs on the mainland as well as on the Chatham Islands." I have observed plants with variously blue-stained fls near Feilding and on the Wellington coast, but always with the introduced L. marginale nearby.