Var. rutaefolia, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 7.—Leaves biternate or bipinnate; secondary leaflets often stalked. Usually smaller than the type.
North Island: Both varieties common about Wellington, and extending northward to Hawke's Bay and Cape Egmont. South Island: Nelson—Wairau Valley, Buller Valley, T. F. C. Canterbury—Kowai River, Petrie! Ashley Gorge, Cockayne! Sea-level to 3000 ft. November–January.
A variable plant, not always readily distinguishable from states of C. hexasepala or C. australis.
5. C. fœtida, Raoul, Choix, 23, t. 22.—Stems stout, woody; branches numerous, mtertwined, often covering bushes or small trees; young shoots clothed with fulvous pubescence. Leaves 3-foliolate, slightly coriaceous, usually thinly pubescent on both surfaces, but often becoming glabrous when old; leaflets 1–2 in. long, all stalked, ovate or ovate-cordate, acute or acuminate, entire or irregularly toothed or lobed. Panicles large, much divided; branches usually densely clothed with pale or fulvous tomentum. Flowers very numerous, small, ½–¾ in. diam., yellowish, strongly odorous but certainly not fœtid. Sepals 6–8, linear, obtuse or acute, densely tomentose on the outside. Anthers linear-oblong, obtuse. Achenes narrow-ovoid, very silky, narrowed into short plumose tails—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 7; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 2; Kirk, Students' Fl. 4. C. Parkinsoniana, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xii. (1880) 359; xiv. (1882) 331.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon in lowland districts from the North Cape to the south of Otago. September–November.
Varies considerably in size, texture, cutting of the leaves, degree of pubescence, &c.; but can always be recognised by the pale or fulvous pubescence on the leaves, young shoots, and branches of the panicle, by the small yellow flowers, which are usually produced in enormous numbers, and by the dense tomentum on the sepals. The type specimens of Mr. Colenso's C. Parkinsoniana, preserved in his herbarium, show no points of difference from the ordinary form of C. fœtida.
6. C. parviflora, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 636.—More or less clothed with silky fulvous pubescence. Stems slender, wiry, not nearly so robust or so much branched as in the preceding species. Leaves 3-foliolate, thin and almost membranous, more rarely sub-coriaceous, tawny-pubescent, especially on the veins and under-surface; leaflets ½–1½ in. long, all stalked, ovate or ovate-cordate, usually entire but occasionally irregularly lobed, subacute. Panicles slender, branched; rhachis and pedicels tawny-pubescent. Flowers small, ½–¾ in. diam., yellowish. Sepals 6–8, linear, more or less clothed with silky pubescence. Anthers short and broad, oblong, with a minute appendage at the apex of the connective. Achenes narrow-ovoid, silky.—Raoul, Choix, 47; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 7; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 2; Kirk, Students' Fl. 4.
Var. trilobata, Kirk, Students' Fl. 5.—Leaflets deeply 3-lobed; lobes entire or cut. Flowers smaller. Sepals more pubescent.
