Flora of New Zealand Series

Glabrous, much-branched, perennial herb with stout root; stems erect or suberect, to c. 1.2 m tall. Lvs glaucous; lvs on vegetative and lower part of flowering shoots, excluding basal lvs, 1.5-4.5 × 0.75-2 cm, lanceolate to broad-ovate, ± amplexicaul; apex sharply acute. Lvs on upper part of flowering shoots lanceolate, < 1 cm wide, becoming smaller. Fls many in rather lax racemes. Pedicels 1-4 mm long; bracts ovate, > pedicels. Calyx 5-10 mm long, lobed almost to base; lobes lanceolate, acuminate. Corolla c. 30 mm long when fresh (including finely tapering spur c. 12 mm long), yellow except for glandular, bearded, orange pouch; upper lip c. 15 mm long. Capsule 4-6 mm diam., globose. Seeds 1-1.5 mm long, irregularly shaped, sharply 3-angled, wingless, black, finely rugose.

S.: only reported as having escaped on a roadside near Rakaia, Canterbury, and in a few grassy clearings in a Pseudotsuga menziesii plantation not far from the Government Gardens in Queenstown, C, Otago.

E., S. and C. Europe, W. and S.W. Asia 1988

FL Jan-Mar.

The N.Z. plants belong to subsp. dalmatica (L.) Maire et Petitm. The sp. is occasionally cultivated and has previously been known in N.Z. as L. dalmatica and L. macedonica.