Notes on Some New Zealand Plants and Descriptions of New Species (No. 4)

By G. Simpson.

Ranunculus sericophyllus var. simpsonii (Ckn. et Allan) Simpn. et Thomn.

Debris slopes near the summit of Pahiri Peak, Wilmott Pass, 1,300 m. altitude.

Ranunculus limosella F. von Muell.

At edges of pools in runnels at Rock and Pillar Range, 1,100 m. altitude, with Epilobum macropus.

Pittosporaceae.

Pittosporum divaricatum Ckn.

Near foot of Lake Manapouri. Mr. Burton Murrell. Mr. Murrell forwarded good fruiting specimens collected in August, 1944, with a note that some of the shrubs attained a height of 4 m.

Rosaceae.

Geum uniflorum Buch.

Upper grassland slopes, Wilmott Pass.

Leguminosae.

Swainsona novae-zelandiae Hook. f. var. glabra var. nov.

Typi valde affinis sed glabra, costis subter pilis perpaucis imbecillis indutis.

As the type, but glabrous except for a few weak hairs on the midribs beneath.

Habitat: Fellfield.

Type specimen from Mount Ida, Central Otago, in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington.

Violaceae.

Hymenanthera dentata R. Br. var. angustifolia Benth.

In coprosma scrub near the foot of Lake Manapouri, collected by Mr. Burton Murrell.

Catlins River Valley, near streams.

Thymelaeaceae.

Pimelia gnidia (Forst. f.) Willd.

In the Fiord Botanical District this is a much branched shrub little more than .5 m. high. Stems greyish, purple towards the tips of the branchlets. Leaves ± 1.7 cm. long, 5 mm. broad, coriaceous, ovate, oblong, subacute, narrowed to a short petiole, glabrous, everywhere gland dotted, green above and the midrib evident, paler beneath and obscurely keeled. Floral leaves shorter and broader, 1 cm. long, 7 mm. broad, ovate, subacute, veined; midrib prominent beneath. Inflorescence terminal, receptacle villous. Flowers ± 15, crowded, sessile, 1 cm. long, poly-dioecious; perianth white, inflated and purplish at the base, villous; limb short, 4 mm. long, lobes ovate, subacute, spreading and recurved. Stamens exserted to half the length of the limb. Style equalling the stamens. Stigma capitate.

In the literature plants from various localities in North and South Islands are covered by the descriptions. Forster's type was collected at Dusky Sound. Description drawn up from fresh material collected at Wilmott Pass, Fiord Botanical District, December, 1943.

Pimelia traversii Hook. f.

“Fruits not seen.” Plants on Mount Ida, Central Otago, have fruits 4 mm. long, dry, villous at the tip, brown, enclosed in the persistent inflated perianth.

Pimelia sericeo-villosa Hook. f.

The fruits are not referred to in the literature. They are dark brown to almost black, 2 mm. long, ovoid, narrowed to an obtuse villous tip, included in the persistent inflated perianth.

Pimelia poppelwellii Petrie.

Fruits as P. sericeo-villosa.

Myrtaceae.

Leptospermum ericoides var. microflorum var. nov.

Foliis plerumque linearo-obovatis, obtusis, mucronatis. Flores 4 mm. diam., pedicellis 2 mm. longis, pubescentibus, calycibus, 2 mm. longis, 2 mm. diam., campanulatis; rugosis, pubescentibus, petalis orbiculatis, isque ad 2 mm. diam.

A stunted shrub, often decumbent or prostrate. Branchlets slender, pubescent at the tips. Leaves fascicled, or alternate on young growth, linear oblong or more usually linear obovate, obtuse, mucronate, narrowed to a short, purplish petiole, glabrous. Flowers small, 4 mm. diam., solitary or fascicled; pedicels 2 mm. long, pubescent; calyx 2 mm. long, 2 mm. diam., campanulate, rugose, pubescent; lobes stoutly triangular, blunt, membraneous at the margins; petals orbicular, 2 mm. diam. or less, crumbled. Capsule sunken in the calyx.

Habitat: Mineral belt, Nelson.

Specimens from a plant in cultivation in Mr. N. Potts' garden at Opotiki, collected at Rainbow Mountain, Nelson, in the Herbarium Plant Research Burcau, Wellington.

Mr. Potts writes “the plant occupies craters on Rainbow Mountain,” and his specimen, “after some 10 years of cultivation, is still a straggling shrub little more than 1 m. tall.”

Onagaceae.

Epilobium nerteriodes A. Cunn. var. minimum (T. Kirk) Ckn.

Lawyer's Head, near Dunedin, in sandy soil above coastal cliffs. In this situation the leaves are succulent and smooth but rugose and evidently reticulated above when dried. They differ from Kirk's description of “sessile or sub-sessile” in having stout petioles 1–2 mm. long, turned up from the nodes to the distichous position of the blade. The plants form close mats to 1 m. or more diameter.

Epilobium porphyrium sp. nov.

Herba parva multiramosa ad 10 cm. alta, rhizomate breve lignoso, caulibus decumbentibus basi radicantibus; foliis confertis, 10–15 mm. longis, 4–5 latis, petiolis basi breviter connatis, rubris, laminis, ovatis vel obovatis-oblongis, obtusis, ad margines denticulis obscuris vel sinuatis, plerumque purpurascentibus, glabris, floribus parvis fere sessilibus in summis axillis foliorium dispositis, 1.5 cm. longis, 5 mm. diam., calycis laciniis lanceolatis, subobtusis, petalis albidis calyce

paulo longioribus, stigmate clavato, capsulis minute pubescentibus, 3 mm. longis, rubris, pedicillis 4 mm. longis, seminibus oblongo-obovoideis, testa papillosa.

A small, much-branched plant to about 10 cm. high. Rootstock short, woody. Stems slender, decumbent and rooting at the base, red, bifariously pubescent. Leaves crowded, 10–15 mm. long, 4–5 mm. broad. Petioles shortly connate at the base, red; blade ovate or obovate oblong, obtuse, obscurely toothed or sinuate at the margins, purplish, or sometimes purplish green, glabrous; paler beneath and base of the midrib prominent. Flowers small, almost sessile in the axils of the uppermost leaves, 1.5 cm. long, 5 mm. diam., white; calyx segments lanceolate, bluntly tipped; limb slightly exceeding the calyx. Stigma clavate. Capsules minutely pubescent, 3 cm. long, red, fruited; peduncles short, 4 mm. long. Seed obovate oblong, papillose.

Habitat: Stony debris.

Type specimen from the upper western basin of the Matukituki River, near Hector's Col., in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington.

From its colouring this may have been confused with E. purpuratum, but that plant has a prostrate and rooting habit, and Buchanan's specimens have pedicels 3–4 cm. long, elongating in fruit to 6 cm.

Araliaceae.

Nothopanax anomalum (Hook. f.) Seem.

Forest at the Catlins River Valley.

Eryngium vesiculatum Lab.

Kirk (1899, p. 194) described the stems as “prostrate but never rooting at the nodes,” and Cheeseman (1925, p. 654) followed with “prostrate stems much resembling stolons but not rooting…Peduncles radical or from the nodes.” But in cultivation the plant exhibits a very different development. No flowers are produced directly from the radical tuft, but a short stout erect stem appears as an offset from the root crown, and this divides at the surface of the ground into 3—sometimes 2 only—widely spreading stems. At their conjunction and at their lower nodes—usually at 2 of them—single flower heads are raised. The stems arch stiffly and press firmly downwards, the upper nodes root, their tips submerge and proceed as subterranean stems, rooting at intervals to send up a continuity of new radical tufts. The vegetative spread in this cycle is rapid, and large patches are rapidly formed.

Umbelliferae.

Aciphylla pinnatifida Petrie.

Upper grassland slopes, Wilmott Pass.

Epacridaceae.

Leucopogon fraseri A. Cunn. var. muscosus var. nov.

Typi similis sed ramulis dense confertis 2–3 cm. longis, gracilibus; foliis 2 mm. longis vix 1 mm. latis, floribus 7 mm. longis 2mm. diam.

Branchlets closely tufted, short, 2–3 cm. long, slender, 2 mm. diam. with the leaves on. Leaves 2 mm. long, less than 1 mm. broad. Flowers 7 mm. long, 2 mm. diam, otherwise as the species.

Drupe not seen.

Habitat: Subalpine grassland.

Type specimen in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington, from a plant in cultivation collected from Avalanche Peak, above Arthur's Pass Township.

The author is indebted to Mr. W. B. Brockie, of the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, for flowering and fruiting specimens of this small variety, which he also independently discovered, and he succeeded in bringing it into cultivation.

Epacridaceae.

Dracophyllum oliveri Du Reitz in Svensk. Botanisk Tidskrift Bd. 24, p. 374, 1920.

An erect shrub 1–2 cm. high, with brown or dark brown bark; branchlets 5–7 cm. long, naked at the base. Leaves ± 4 cm. long, slender, 1 mm. broad, linear-subulate, acute, somewhat rigid, concave, semi-terete at the tip, 3 veined, with the margins and surfaces covered with minute hairs; sheath 6 mm. long, 5 mm. broad, with the shoulder slightly sloped and ciliate. Racemes short, ± 2 cm. long, semi-erect, densely 8–10 flowered; bracts persistent, 8 mm. long, with the lamina subulate and ½ the length, the sheath broader than long, 5 mm. broad, deltoid, ciliate. Flowers almost sessile, 8 mm. long; sepals 5 mm. long, equally the corolla tube, lanceolate, acute, ciliate, minutely pubescent. Corolla white, 6 mm. long; tube rather stout, 2 mm. diam., cylindrical; lobes ovate.

Habitat: Swampy flats.

Specimens from near Lake Manapouri in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington.

A common plant in swampy areas near Lake Manapouri and between Lake Te Anau and the Key.

Du Reitz (loc. cit. p. 374), in discussing the differing forms of D. longifolium separated by Oliver (1929–702), writes, “As far as my experience goes, these three forms are quite as good and definite units as many Dracophyllum species recognised by Oliver and previous authors, and the lumping of them to one species seriously hampers the discussion of their most interesting hybrids with other species. I therefore propose to raise them all to the rank of species.” He recognised Forster's Epacris longifolia (form 2 Oliver) as the type of Dracophyllum longifolium (Forst.) R. Br., he suggested the name D. cockayianum for the wide-leaved form of Auckland and Campbell Islands (form 1 Oliver), and as an acknowledgment of Oliver's “excellent and much needed revision of the genus” he proposed to attach that author's name to form 3. Coupled as they are with references to Oliver's accounts and published prior to January 1, 1935, it may be agreed that the names are valid, but a type must be established, and a more detailed description has been drawn up.

Dracophyllum rosmarinifolium (Forst. f.) R. Br.

Forster's description of Epacris rosmarinifolium is brief “fruticosa foliis linearibus obtusis rigidus vaginanthibs floribus solitaribus.”

His longer MS. notes were published by Richard (1832–220) as descriptive of D. rosmarinifolium R. Br. and important to this discussion is the leaf character “apice obtusis.” Hooker (1864–182) described the leaves of his D. uniflorum as “pungent.” Oliver (1929–689) accepted the determination of Professor Wall that Forster's type specimen and one collected by Kirk at Amuri, similarly identified, were alike and “simply what we now call D. uniflorum.” He abandoned D. uniflorum as a synonym of Forster's species, and described his “Group of D. rosmarinifolium” as “Erect shrubs with acicular leaves.”

Allan (1940–272) disagreed with Wall's opinion; he found Kirk's specimen and Hooker's type of D. uniflorum to “agree very well, and he described the leaves of the species type for comparison. Leaves of Epacris rosmarinifolium “15 to 25 mm. long…narrowed rather abruptly to the tip…the sheaths not shouldered.” Dracophyllum uniflorum “30 to 40 mm. long…narrowed gradually to the acute apex…sheaths abruptly shouldered.”

Cockayne (1928–204), without comment, had already bracketed D. rosmarinifolium (= D. politum).

Cheeseman (1925–709) altered his earlier (1906–427) “tips very obtuse” to “tips usually obtuse” in redescribing D. politum Ckn., and no doubt his inclusion of a specimen from Mount Maungatua, collected by Petrie, made that necessary. The present author has not been able to find a plant on Mount Maungatua even nearly matching that of Stewart Island and Fiord. The erect pungent leaved D. uniflorum occurs in abundance in the Fiord Botanical District, both in the subalpine shrub association and above the forest margin, the prostrate obtusely leaved D. politum is also common in moist grassland at higher elevation, and the specimens match exactly others from Stewart Island, kindly sent by Dr. Oliver. Allan's notes on the leaves of Forster's type specimen are exactly descriptive of those of D. politum, in which they are short, similarly shaped, obtuse or suddenly narrowed, the sheaths gradually expanded.

Forster's “obtusis” and Hooker's “pungent” are precise terms and repellent, and they must not be disregarded. With all deference to Oliver's wide knowledge of the genus, D. uniflorum appears to be a good, if compound, species, and Cockayne's D. rosmarinifolium (= D. politum) correct. The species is probably restricted to Stewart Island and Fiord.

Boraginaceae.

Myosotis suavis Petrie.

Hills above Fowler Pass, Lake Manapouri.

Scropulariaceae.

Hebe townsoni (Cheesem.) Ckn. et Allan.

Mr. N. Potts, Opotiki, has forwarded plants of this species collected by Mr. Robert Green from a cliff face on the west side of Mount Messenger, Taranaki, “along the old pig track to the coast.” The collector informs Mr. Potts that the plant is not uncommon in this locality.

Type specimens from a plant in cultivation, collected near the summit of the Rock and Pillar Range, Otago, and flowering at Dunedin in early January, in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington.

The shrunken, keeled, triangular tipped leaves of dried specimens are quite unlike those of living plants.

Hebe pauciflora Simpn. et Thomn.

Grassland above forest margins, Paringa Peak, Wilmott Pass.

Veronica birleyi N. E. Brown.

Cheeseman (1925, p. 831) referred V. grahamii Petrie to this species as a synonym, but Wall (1924, p. 14) in an interesting account of his search for Graham's Veronica, and his success in finding it in flower at about 3,000 m. altitude on Mount Annette, in the Sealey Range, at the end of January, 1924, writes: “The two plants, however, seem to me to be very different, with due submission to so great an authority.” The present author and the late J. S. Thomson collected excellent specimens of V. birleyi from fine silt in broken, slaty ridges high on Bold Peak, Lake Wakatipu, closely adjacent to the type habitat, Mount Bonpland. These, when compared with Wall's specimens from the Sealey Range, now in the Canterbury Museum Herbarium, cannot be separated.

Euphrasia integrifolia Petrie.

A small, glabrous, creeping and rooting fleshy plant forming loosely matted patches. Stems ± 5 cm. long, soft, branching. Leaves opposite, 3–4 mm. long, 1 mm. diam. at the base, obovoid-acuminate, apiculate, succulent, entire. Flowers few in the axils of the upper leaves, 8–10 mm. long; calyx divided to midlength into 4 fleshy, triangular segments; tube of corolla as long as the limb, rather wide, yellow, finely puberulous; limb white on the inner surface, outer purplish; upper lip short, broadly emarginate, distinctly arched, convex on the outer surface, with the margins spreading, lower lip divided into 3 short, rounded lobes, throat yellow. Anthers exserted, crowded under the arch of the upper lip. Style long, exceeding the limb.

Petrie's description was drawn up from “but little material secured by Messrs. Crosby Smith and Cuthbert” from “wet alpine meadows and bogs on Mount Cleughern, Fiord County, Southland, about 5,000 feet altitude.” The dried material would exhibit nothing of the succulence of the plant, and the leaves are described as “linear-lanceolate, acuminate, submembranous.”

In late December, 1943, the plant was found in abundance and in full flower, on hills near Wilmott Pass, Fiord Botanical District.

Specimens collected from Mount Pahiri, at 1,250 m. altitude, in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington.

Rubiaceae.

Coprosma intertexta sp. nov.

Frutex gracilis erectus 1–2 mm. altus, ramulis gracilibus, divaricatis, laxe intertextis juventute pubescentibus, demum glabris. Folia linearo-oblonga, subacuta, 6–10 mm. longa vel ultra, 1 mm. lata,

petiolis laminarum marginibasque rubiscentibus, costis manifestis, stipulis membranaceis, obtusis, ciliatis. Flores solitarii ad apices ramulorum abbreviatorum positi. Flores masculi ignoti. Flores feminei 5 mm. longi, breviter pedicillati; bracteis, stipulisque rotundatis, ciliatis, calycibus 2 mm. longis, lobis 4, linearibus, subacutis, corollis ad basim tubulosis, lobis 4, linearibus, obtusis. Drupam non visi.

A slender erect or suberect shrub 1–2 m. tall. Branches slender, interlacing, spreading at right angles, pubescent when young, glabrous, smooth and pale brown when older. Leaves in opposite pairs or fascicles, linear-oblong, subacute, 6–10 mm. long or longer, less than 1 mm. broad, green, petiole and leaf margins reddish, midrib evident beneath. Stipules membraneous, obtuse, ciliate. Flowers solitary, terminating short arrested branchlets. Male flowers not seen. Female flowers 5 mm. long, shortly pedicelled, purplish; bracts and stipules rounded, ciliate; calyx 2 mm. long, divided to mid-length into 4 linear subacute teeth; corolla tubular, deeply divided into 4 linear obtuse segments.

Drupe not seen ripe.

Habitat: Hill faces amongst strewn rock.

Type specimen in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington, from a plant in cultivation, collected from the Swineburn Valley, near Kyeburn, Central Otago. Oliver (1935–44) not knowing the flowers, referred specimens of this species to C. brunnea, from which it differs in its more slender, erect or suberect habit, its smooth, pale brown branches, and its longer, purplish female flowers with their linear calyx and corolla segments. It appears to be nearer allied to the strictly erect and much more robust C. rugosa. The species is common in its type habitat, and a similar plant occurs on banks at the foot of the steep and narrow portion of the Longslip Stream Valley eastward of Lindis Pass.

Campanulaceae.

Wahlenbergia matthewsii Ckn.

Cheeseman (1925–893) refers to a “Rhizome short, stout, woody, often swollen and tuberous,” but such a growth is incidental only to a rock crevice habitat in which branching is prevented. The rhizome may then be short and stout or wide and much compressed and few stemmed, but never is it woody. In loose or much shattered limestone the plant has many long, branching, whitish, fleshy and brittle, underground, creeping stems. The ascendent growth is at first purplish, green when older, 2 mm. diam., soft and brittle, branching into 4–6 flowering stems each 4–8 flowered. Peduncles 10 cm. or more long and, with the calyx, shining green; calyx 10 mm. long, 5 partite; segments ovate-subulate; corolla tube stout, yellowish white, 8 mm. long; limb pale lilac, or white with lilac margins, lobes ovatelanceolate, acute, often apiculate, narrowed at the base; style equalling the tube; stigma lobes 2 or 3, white. Capsules obconic, 1–2 cm. long, 5 mm. diam. Seeds numerous, oblong, rounded at the ends, slightly compressed, dark brown, smooth and shining.

The species occurs in limestone areas on near coastal stations in Marlborough, but it grows luxuriantly, and its seed germinates freely, under garden conditions.

The division of the stigma into 2 or 3 lobes is common to all the species of Wahlenbergia examined, it may occur simultaneously on one plant or in the flowers of a branching inflorescence, and Miss W. M. Curtis, of Hobart University, reports a similar occurrence in the species of Tasmania.

In W. matthewsii and W. albomarginata the calyx and corolla lobes are occasionally seen 6 partite or, more rarely, 7 partite.

Wahlenbergia ramosa sp. nov.

Herba rhizomate crasso, albo, fragile, multiramosa, ramulis 20–50 cm. longis, glabris manifeste sulcatis. Folia 1–2 cm. longa, 2–5 mm. lata, lance olata vel linearo-oblonga, sessilia, supra paulo concava, subtus carinata, apice paululs recurvata, glabra vel costis sparsissime pilosis vel laminis basalibus pilis rigidis albis indutis, foliis caulinibus superioribus parvioribus, subulatis, dentibus setis praeditis. Pedicelli 5–8 cm. longi, nudi, rigidi. Flores 1 cm. diam. pallide lilacini demum albi. Calyx obcuneatus, 6 mm. longus, ad medium 5–partibus, glaber. Corollae lobi obovato-oblongi, acuti. Capsula 8 mm. longa, 5 mm. diam., obconica, in pedicellem angustata.

A much branched, dark green, decumbent plant. Rootstock stout, soft, white and brittle. Stems numerous, 20–50 cm. long, glabrous, conspicuously ribbed. Leaves alternate, or sometimes sub-opposite, somewhat remote, 1–2 cm. long, 2–5 mm. broad, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, entire, sessile, slightly concave above, keeled beneath, the tips slightly recurved, glabrous on both surfaces, or with a few hairs on the midrib beneath, or those at the base dotted on both surfaces with stiff white hairs; upper leaves smaller, subulate, with 1–4 short bristle like teeth on each margin. Pedicels 5–8 cm. long, naked, stiff. Flowers 1 cm. diam., pale lilac, fading to white; calyx obcuneate, 6 mm. long, 5 partite to midlength, glabrous, teeth subulate, corolla lobes obovate-oblong, acute. Capsule 8 mm. long, 5 mm. diam., obconical. narrowed to the pedicel.

Described from plants in cultivation collected at Seatoun, Wellington, by Mrs. H. W. Samson.

Type specimen in the Herbarium Plant Research Bureau, Wellington.

Compositae.

Lagenophora pumila Forst. f.

The species occurs in a multiplicity of forms differing one from the other in the leaves being glabrous or to some more or less extent hairy, green or purplish, smooth or somewhat rugose, their margins closely or remotely toothed, sometimes crenate, and the flowers of some forms larger than others. On open ground the leaf rosettes form closely matted patches, much in the manner of Wahlenbergia albomarginata in similar situations. Kirk's species L. purpurata and L. barkeri, with L. multidentata Simpn. et Thmn., are varietal forms of the jordanon, but described from elongated states.

L. pumila var. purpuratea = L. purpuratea T. Kirk in Stud. Flor. (1899) 257.