Epilobium cinereum A.Rich.
Type locality: "Crescit in littore (Baie des Iles)." Type: P?
Stems stiff, erect, us. much-branched from a stout woody base, up to 6 dm. tall; branches ± virgate, terete, lfy, ashy-pubescent, becoming glab.; branchlets very slender. Lvs subopp., sts fascicled, sessile. Lamina linear, ± spathulate, us. mucronulate, 6-15 × 1-3 mm., with occ. ones up to ± 20 mm. long, submembr., clad in ash-grey pubescence on both surfaces; margins distinctly, rather coarsely denticulate to subentire. Fls us. extending well down stems, ± 3-4 mm. diam.; calyx 3-4 mm. long, cut to ± halfway into ovate, pubescent lobes; petals reddish to rose, rarely white, ± 4-5 mm. long. Capsule ashy-pubescent, obscurely tetragonous, 40-50 mm. long; peduncles very slender, finely pubescent, 15-20 mm. long. Seeds minutely papillose.
DIST.: N., S. Lowland to lower montane gravelly places, grassland and open places from near North Cape to lat. 45° or further.
FL.- FT. 10-3.
E. junceum : The name derives from Solander's unpublished Primitiae Florae Novae-Zelandiae where he gives a general description and indicates 2 vars: α campestre -"in collibus campestribus", β limosum -"in locis humidis". The first agrees with E. cinereum A. Rich., the second with E. hirtigerum A. Cunn. G. Forster is us. cited as publishing the sp. but (Prodr. 1786, 90) he merely cites Solander's name, without description. Sprengel (Syst. Veg. 2, 1825, 233) cites Forst. f. as author, gives a brief description that does not well fit Solander's plants, and includes E. denticulatum Ruiz et Pav. Fl. per. chil. 3 [1798-1802] 78, which according to Index Kew. p. 852 includes E. pedicellare Presl Rel. Haenk. 2, 1831, 30 of Chile.
A. Cunningham (Ann. nat. Hist. 3, 1839, 33-34) besides E. cinereum A. Rich and E. hirtigerum A. Cunn., describes the following spp. that have been rather cavalierly treated by later authors, but his specimens are scrappy: 545- incanum : erect, greyish villous; lvs linear-oblong, obtuse; margins with few, remote teeth; mature peduncles little > capsules. "Margins of woods, near the falls of the Waitangy river, Bay of Islands. -1834, R. Cunningham. Species [E. cinereum] valde affinis sed forsan characteribus datis distincte, omnino villosior." 547- virgatum : erect, slender, virgate, white-hoary; lower lvs opp., linear, ± 1 mm. wide, acute; teeth few; mature peduncles ± = capsules. "In woods near the falls of the Keri-Keri river, at the head of the Kana-Kana river, etc., Bay of Islands. -1834, R. Cunningham." 549- confertum : Stems strict, erect, ± 30 cm. tall; branches reddish, with white appressed hairs. Lvs oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate, narrow, ± 25 mm. long, sharply, remotely, serrate or subsinuate, fascicled. Capsule linear, obtusely tetragonous, ± 5 cm. long; peduncle half length of capsule.
Under 551 Cunningham has: "E. junceum (Sol. Ms.) caule tereti fistuloso, superne incano-pubescente, foliis sessilibus lanceolatis acutis denticulatis glabriusculis, calycibus acuminatis corollam superantibus. Spreng. Syst. Veg. ii. p. 233. Forst. Prodr, n. 516- E. denticulatum, Ruiz et Pavon. Fl. Peruv. iii, p. 78. t. 314. sec. Spreng." Again the description does not well fit Solander's specimens.
Hooker (Fl. N.Z. 1, 1852, 60) attributes E. junceum to Forster, and gives as synonyms: E. cinereum A. Rich., E. virgatum A. Cunn., E. incanum A. Cunn., E. denticulatum Ruiz et Pav., E. puberulum Hook. et Arn. (of Chiloe). He accepts E. hirtigerum A. Cunn. as a var. of junceum. In his Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 80 he gives, as synonyms of E. junceum Forst., E. cinereum A. Rich., and virgatum, confertum, hirtigerum, incanum of A. Cunn. He remarks: "Abundant in Tasmania, Australia, and South Chili, passing into E. tetragonum and glabellum." I have seen a few Tasmanian plants, some of which approach forms us. placed in the junceum complex in N.Z. but others I have been unable to match with any of ours.
Haussknecht (Mon. Gatt. Epilob. 1884) under E. junceum Sol. gives: "Capsulis adpresse pubescentibus, cinereis v. incanis, 4-6 cm. longis; pedicellis fol. fulcr. longioribus, 11/2-3 cm. longis . . . seminibus . . . testa papillis brevissimis rotundatis dense obsita. Fl. Nov.-Febr." He describes the following formae:
(a) teucriifolia : Stem simple, tall; lvs c. 4 cm. long, lower glabrescent, with long remote teeth. "Sinclair (Hb. Berol.), in ins. Auckland (Hb. Hook.)." Also in Australia and Tasmania.
(b) macrophylla : Stems simple, tall; lvs up to 7 × 1·5 cm., thinly puberulous or sub-glabrescent, secondary nerves manifest. "Banks (Hb. Vindob.)." Also Australia.
(c) glabrescens : Lvs oblong-lanceolate, remotely repando-denticulate, pale green; secondary nerves a little conspicuous. Fls small, capsules and pedicels short. "Hab. in Nova Zelandia leg. Colenso; Harve de l'Astrolabe, détroit de Cook leg. Lesson sub E. glabello (Hb. Vindob.)."
(d) cinerea : Stem tall, often suffruticose at base, slender, ± branched above; lvs often not > 10 × 1-2 mm., entire or with a few small teeth, ashy-pubescent; secondary nerves inconspicuous; fls smaller, capsules and peduncles shorter. Australia, Tasmania. "In Nova Zelandia, Baie des Iles leg. Lesson sub E. cinereo (Hb. Berol., Vindob.); ibid leg. A. Cunn. sub E. conferto (Hb. Petr.); ad Wangaroa in graminosis ad ripas fluminis leg. R. Cunningham. Nach original-Exemplaren gehört hierher E. cinereum Less. et Rich.; E. confertum A. Cunn. ist nur die hohe ästige Form. E. virgatum A. Cunn. hingegen ist die mehr einfache, aber ebenso kleinblätterige Form derselben nach Exemplaren in Hb. Kew No. 140 und 551."
(e) canescens. 2. microphylla : Lvs densely incano-tomentose: stems and lvs as in (d). Australia, Tasmania. "In Nova Zelandia prov. Canterbury leg. Haast (Hb. Berol., Brux.). Zu dieser Form gehört E. incanum A. Cunningham."
Kirk (Stud. Fl 1899, 167) gives in his key: Leaves distant, broad, toothed- E. junceum; Leaves narrow, toothed- var. campestre, but does not deal with this var. further. He accepts under E. junceum 2 vars: var. cinereum (E. cinereum A. Rich., E. virgatum and E. confertum A. Cunn.) and var. hirtigerum (E. hirtigerum A. Cunn.), and comments "An extremely variable plant, of which it would be easy to make numerous varieties, scarcely any of which could be separated by hard-and-fast lines."
Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 603) accepts "E. junceum Soland. in Forst. f. Prodr. Append. (1786) n. 516, nomen nudum" as "Abundant in lowland districts throughout, especially in the northern part of the North Island, but not common in the elevated districts of either the North or South Island." He considers that Solander's var. campestre answers to E. cinereum A. Rich., and the var. limosum to be E. hirtigerum A. Cunn. What I have seen of Solander's and Cunningham's material agrees with this view. But Cheeseman's description includes forms other than fit E. cinereum. He gives E. incanum, E. virgatum, and E. confertum under synonymy without comment.
The name E. junceum has thus been used of many forms of Epilobium of varying and more or less indeterminate rank, applied to plants from N.Z., Australia and South America that have never been adequately analysed and compared. I think that the name E. junceum should be abandoned as a nomen confusum. A prolonged restudy of the whole complex is obviously needed.
A remarkable sp. occurs in the Wellington Province on damp sandy or gravelly streambeds from at least lat. 40° southwards. It comes "true" from seed. It illustrates the danger of describing spp. of Epilobium from incomplete material. I do not assign a name, as upper portions fit into the generalized description of junceum, and the whole group still needs to be studied in detail.
Stock long, very stout, hard and woody, up to ± 10 mm. diam., emitting prostrate, crowded, woody stems ± glab., with the lvs forming a rosette-like mass. These lvs are ± 25-30 × 4-10 mm. on broad flat petioles ± 5 mm. long. Lamina narrow- to broad-lanceolate, glab., dark green and glossy above, paler below; margins coarsely, irregularly, denticulate. Later erect, branching stems up to ± 45 cm. long are developed, often forming large clumps. Branches villous; lvs crowded, opp. to fascicled, densely villous, narrow-lanceolate, ± 10-15 × 2-3 mm., subentire to rather coarsely denticulate. Fls often distributed well down branches and stems.
