Euphrasia disperma Hook.f.
E. longiflora Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 11, 1879, 440 non Vahl 1794.
Siphonidium longiflorum J. B. Armst. in T.N.Z.I. 13, 1881, 340.
Anagosperma dispermum (Hook. f.) Wettst. in Ber. dtsch. bot. Ges. 13, 1895, 240-243.
Type locality: Okarito. Type: K, Hamilton. Part of the original collection in W includes the type of E. longiflora Kirk. Type locality of Siphonidium longiflorum J. B. Armst. : Karamea. Type: CM, F. H. Spencer; only a few vegetative scraps remain.
Succulent prostrate annual herb forming loosely matted patches but not rooting at nodes; main stem 1-2 mm. diam., ± umbellately divided into us. 5 far-spreading, copiously oppositely branched stems up to c. 2 dm. or more long, or whole plant much smaller; stems and branches glab. or ± pilose. Lvs sessile, fleshy, up to c. 6 × 2.5 mm., lanceolate to ovate to quadrate in outline, acuminate, apiculate, entire or with a pair of narrow to filiform apiculate teeth up to 1·5 mm. long about the middle (both forms us. on same plant), glab. or ± pilose, segs sts tipped with cluster of hairs. Fls borne singly along the branches on short ± horizontal pedicels which are bent abruptly at junction with calyx so that fl. stands erect. Calyx 4-6 mm. long, glab. or ± pilose, cut c. 1/2 way into narrow, acuminate, sts hair-tipped lobes, anterior clefts us. > other 3. Corolla white to cream, 1-6·5 cm. long; tube up to 6 cm. long, very narrow to filiform, flaring suddenly into limb 5-10 mm. diam.; lobes of lower lip 1·5-3 mm. wide, entire, of upper lip very short but wider, up to 5 mm. wide. Anthers free, erect, golden yellow with completely glab. margins, awns small, almost equal. Ovary with 1 ovule per locule; capsule broader than tall, rupturing calyx at anterior cleft; sts 2-seeded and symmetrically obcordate or bicornute, more often 1-seeded by abortion and asymmetric, c. 2 × 4 mm. and ovate to triangular in outline; apparently indehiscent. Seed ± ovate, c. 3 mm. long.
DIST.: N. Reporoa Bog, N.W. Ruahine Range. S. Coastal to montane western Nelson and Westland from Karamea to Okarito, sea level to 1,000 m., us. in boggy or muddy places.
POLYMORPHY AND HYBRIDISM
Clapham, Tutin and Warburg, Fl. Brit. Isles 1952, 894-895, remark concerning the British spp. (all annuals): "The determination of the species is not easy. . . . Hybrids and hybrid swarms seem to occur commonly, sterile hybrids being comparatively rare." Some of the N.Z. spp. are clear-cut but others, particularly the smaller perennial spp., are in need of detailed investigation. Length of internodes, degree of branching and size of all parts vary greatly in all spp. in response to habitat. It is uncertain to what extent hybridism contributes to the taxonomic difficulties. Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 39) record the following natural crosses: E. cockayniana × revoluta, cockayniana × zelandica and, with doubt, cuneata × tricolor. No genetic studies have been reported and apparently few attempts made to cultivate these plants.
FL. 12-3. FT. 2-4.
The fls are very short in bud, the corolla-tube elongating rapidly just before anthesis. As in E. dyeri and E. repens the large oblong cotyledons are often persistent.
E. wettsteiniana Du Rietz in Svensk bot. Tidskr. 25, 1931, 122. Du Rietz (loc. cit. 108-115), after a full consideration of the history and synonymy of E. disperma Hook. f. and certain important specimens, concluded that two spp. were being confused under this one name. For the second sp. he proposed the new name E. wettsteiniana, based on the following specimens: (a) a collection of Helms from the Paparoa Range in Herb. Barbey-Boissier, Geneva (duplicates in W), on which Wettstein's description of Anagosperma dispermum had been based, and which must be considered the type; (b) duplicates of collections of Petrie and P.G. Morgan from Denniston sent by W; (c) a specimen in K from Mt. Rochfort, P.G. Morgan. (Though Siphonidium longiflorum Armstrong was included (with a query) in the synonymy of E. wettsteiniana Du Rietz had not in fact seen the type of this sp.). E. wettsteiniana was described as "a highly polymorphic species containing a series of forms differing from each other especially in the length of the corolla-tube and the form of the leaves" but distinguishable from E. disperma "by its much larger and usually much more long-tubed flowers, and by its more distinctly nerved and usually distinctly unidentate leaves. Not only the corolla, but also the anthers are much larger than in E. disperma". In the full description of the type of E. disperma drawn up by Du Rietz anthers are given as 1 mm. long and corolla-tube 9-15 mm. long, while the four forms of E. wettsteiniana named and described have anthers 2 mm. long, corolla-tube ranging from 15 to 60 mm. long.
Though a wide range in length of corolla-tube, anther-length and lf-shape was noted in specimens recently examined, it was not easy to recognize the distinct discontinuity described by Du Rietz. However, two entities could sts be distinguished on the basis of differences in diam. and colour of corolla, as for instance in a suite of specimens collected by R. Mason and N. T. Moar from 3 localities near Westport: those from Gillow's Dam, altitude 130-150 ft. (BD 78878, 81189) and terrace north of Te Kuha, altitude c. 440 ft. (BD 78877, 81167) have inconspicuous purple-veined white corollas with limb 5-7 mm. diam., upper lobes 2-3 mm. broad; those from Burma Road, altitude c. 2,000 ft. (BD 81009) have more showy, creamy yellow corollas with limb c. 10 mm. diam., upper lobes 4-5 mm. broad. Tube-length does not appear to be primarily significant. Pubescence and lf-shape are also variable but not obviously in relation to the corolla-differences. Until fuller investigation of the polymorphy can be made it seems best to leave the complex grouped under the original name; the differences hardly merit specific distinction.
