Flora of New Zealand Series

bog stitchwort

Perennial. Stems weak, ascending, 4-angled, glabrous, (8)-10-20-(50) cm long. Lvs green, sessile except on overwintering vegetative shoots, connate in pairs, lanceolate to oblanceolate to narrow-oblong, becoming linear-lanceolate above, tapering gradually to acute apex and glabrous or ciliate base, (5)-8-12-(25) × 2-5-(8) mm; margins usually closely undulate when dry; marginal vein ± distinct. Infl. axillary, cymose, lax, (1)-3-10-flowered. Bracts narrow-lanceolate, not keeled, scarious with green midrib, glabrous, 1.5-3 mm long. Pedicels slender, erecto-patent to patent, glabrous, 8-18 mm long. Sepals narrow-triangular, acute, 3-veined, (2)-2.5-3 mm long; margins scarious, glabrous. Petals < sepals. Stamens 10. Capsule narrow-ovoid, = sepals. Seeds red-brown, c. 0.5 mm long, with very short tubercles.

N.: from Waikato and Bay of Plenty southward; S.: throughout, but uncommon in Canterbury; St.

Europe 1899

Waste land, lake margins, stream banks, bogs, forest clearings, wet ground in tussock grassland, damp beaches, seepages, drains, damp pastures, roadsides.

FL (Sep)-Nov-Mar-(May) FT (Nov)-Dec-Mar-(May).

S. alsine is sometimes confused with S. graminea from which it differs as follows: lvs usually < 15 mm long; margins undulate when dry; marginal vein ± distinct; infl. axillary; bracts not ciliate; sepals 2-3 mm long, not ciliate; petals < sepals; seeds red-brown, c. 0.5 mm long. The infl. in particular is quite different; in S. alsine it is terminal but continued growth of the branch makes it appear lateral, and there is no peduncle so the sessile dichasium appears as 2 dichasia with a solitary fl. between. In S. graminea the infl. is terminal and pedunculate and has many more fls than in S. alsine.

S. alsine has also been referred to in N.Z. as S. uliginosa.