Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: "Mountains in the neighbourhood of Arthur's Pass and the Otira Gorge." Type: W, Herb. Cockayne.

Stock hard and woody; stems slender, rooting at lower nodes, ascending at tips, up to ± 15 cm. long; branchlets us. few, pale green to reddish or purplish, faintly bifariously pubescent. Lvs very close-set, overlapping, opp., on sparsely pubescent petioles up to 1 mm. long; lamina narrow- to rather broad-oblong, 5-11 × 2-4 mm., fleshy, coriac. when dry, glab. or nearly so, obscurely denticulate to subentire, margins with distinct dark red line. Fls 5-6·5 mm. diam.; calyx ± 3 mm. long, deeply cut, lobes lanceolate; petals white or pale rose, ± 5 mm. long. Capsules glab., (15)-20-(30) mm. long, purplish; peduncles < lvs. Seeds papillose.

DIST.: S. Montane to subalpine, fellfield, rocky places, scree margins from lat. 41° 30' to 43° 30'.