Flora of New Zealand Series

H. ovata Simpson et Thomson in T.R.S.N.Z. 72, 1942, 24.

Type locality: Kaituna River near Collingwood. Type: BD 72740 B. Simpson and Thomson, Feb. 1935.

Much branched tree up to c. 6 m. tall; glab. or nearly so, except for ± dense stellate indumentum on young parts and infl. Lvs on petioles up to 10 mm. long; lamina of lvs of young plants 1-5 × 1-3 cm., sub-coriac., broad-ovate to suborbicular, obtuse to acute, serrate-dentate; lamina of lvs of adults 5-8 × 2-4 cm., coriac., ovate to broad-ovate, acute to acuminate, deeply serrate-dentate. Fls ± 2 cm. diam., solitary or in 3-5-fld cymose fascicles, on pedicels up to 4 cm. long. Carpels 5-8, broadly winged.

DIST.: S. Lowland forests, especially marginal to streams, N.W. Nelson to at least 42° 30'.

With rather the facies of a small populnea, but with the carpels as in sexstylosa. Perhaps deserving specific rank, but the whole complex is still ill-resolved.