f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 165; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 178; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 218. L. nesophilus, D.C. Prodr. vii. 752. L. Bellignianus, Raoul, Choix, 18, t. 12.
North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Abundant in dry heathy places throughout, ascending to 4500 ft. Totara. September–January.
Also in Australia and Tasmania. The drupe is juicy, sweetish, and edible.
4. EPACRIS, Forst.
Usually erect rigid heath-like shrubs. Leaves sessile or shortly petioled, crowded or imbricated, articulated on the branch, never sheathing. Flowers solitary and axillary, often extending along the branches for a considerable distance, sessile or shortly peduncled, white or red. Bracts numerous, imbricating, clothing the peduncle and concealing the base of the calyx. Calyx 5-partite; corolla-tube cylindric or campanulate; lobes 5, imbricate, spreading. Stamens 5; filaments short, adnate to the corolla-tube; anthers affixed above the middle, wholly or partly included in the corolla-tube. Hypogynous disc of 5 free or rarely connate scales. Ovary 5-celled; ovules numerous, attached to a central placenta. Capsule 5-celled, loculicidally 5-valved. Seeds numerous.
A genus comprising 25 species, all of which are confined to Australia and Tasmania, except the two found in New Zealand, both of which are endemic.
| Erect, 2–8 ft. high. Leaves ⅙–¼ in., rhomboid-ovate, usually acuminate. Bracts very numerous, acute | 1. E. pauciflora. |
| Erect or decumbent, 1–4 ft. Leaves ⅛–⅙ in., broadly elliptical, obtuse. Bracts few, obtuse | 2. E. alpina. |
1. E. pauciflora, A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 213, t. 29.—A slender erect shrub, usually from 3 to 6 ft. high, but occasionally attaining 8–10 ft. or more, sometimes reduced to a few inches; branches often fascicled, erect, leafy, virgate, puberulous at the tips. Leaves suberect, imbricating, ⅙–¼ in. long, ovate or rhomboid-ovate or oblong-obovate, suddenly narrowed into a bluntly acuminate point, shortly petiolate, concave, very thick and coriaceous, veinless, glabrous on both surfaces. Flowers small, white, copiously produced towards the tips of the branches. Peduncles shorter than the leaves, entirely concealed by numerous imbricating ovate acute bracts, the uppermost of which closely invest the calyx. Corolla-tube hardly longer than the calyx; lobes spreading, broadly oblong, obtuse. Capsule small.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 411. Raoul, Choix, 44; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 166; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 179.
Var. Sinclairii.—Leaves obtuse, not narrowed into acuminate points.—E. Sinclairii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 179.
North and South Islands: Open clay hills from the North Cape to Collingwood and Westport, but rare and local south of the Waikato and Thames Rivers. Sea-level to 2000 ft. Flowers most of the year. Var. Sinclairii: Great Barrier Island, Sinclair! Kirk!
