sometimes cymose. Calyx 3–5-lobed or -partite. Petals 3–5, free or connate at the base. Stamens the same number as the petals. Hypogynous scales 1 to each carpel or wanting. Carpels 3–5, narrowed into short styles; ovules 1 or more to each carpel. Follicles few- or many-seeded.
An almost cosmopolitan genus, comprising about 25 species. Two of those found in New Zealand also occur in Australia, and another in temperate South America, the Falkland Islands, and Kerguelen Island. Several of the New Zealand species are imperfectly known, and require careful study with recent specimens before satisfactory diagnoses can be prepared.
| * A small scale at the base of each carpel. | |
| Stems 2–7 in., red-brown. Leaves 15–13 in., oblong-spathulate. Flowers large, 16–15 in. diam. | 1. T. moschata. |
| Stems 2–4 in., reddish. Leaves 14–18 in., linear, acute. Flowers 112–110 in. | 2. T. Helmsii. |
| Stems 1–3 in., reddish, slender, matted. Leaves 112–18 in., linear-oblong, obtuse. Flowers 115 in. | 3. T. diffusa. |
| Minute, delicate, matted, often less than 1 in. high. Leaves linear-oblong, fleshy, concave, 120–112 in. Flowers white, 115–112 in. | 4. T. Sinclairii. |
| Prostrate and rooting, intricately branched, matted. Leaves thin, obtuse or subacute, 115–112 in. Petals rather longer than the calyx | 5. T. pusilla. |
| Prostrate and rooting, intricately branched. Leaves thin, acute or apiculate, 115–110 in. Petals shorter than the calyx | 6.T. acutifolia. |
| Stems decumbent and ascending, red-purple, ¾–2in. Leaves ovate-subulate, fleshy, concave. Flowers 110–18 in. Seeds 8 | 7. T. multicaulis. |
| ** No scales. | |
| Stems erect, simple or branched, red-brown, 1–5 in. Leaves oblong, subacute, fleshy. Flowers minute, in dense leafy clusters | 8. T. Sieberiana. |
| Stems delicate, intricately branched, prostrate, 2–3 in. Leaves linear-oblong, acute, 116–112 in. Petals ovate-acuminate | 9. T. debilis. |
| Minute, delicate, tufted, ½–2 in. high. Peduncles slender, much elongated in fruit. Carpels many-seeded | 10. T. purpurata. |
T. Hamiltonii, T. Kirk ex W. Hamilton in Trans. N.Z. Inst, xvii (1885) 92, is Tetrachondra Hamiltonii, Petrie ex Oliv. in Ic. Plant, t. 2250 (order Boragineæ).
1. T. moschata, D.C. Prodr. iii. 382-.—A small tufted succulent red-brown herb; stems 2–7 in. long, prostrate and rooting below, erect or ascending at the tips. Leaves connate at the base, thick and fleshy, 15–13 in. long, oblong-spathulate or linear-obovate or linear-oblong, obtuse. Flowers 16–15 in. diam., axillary, solitary; peduncles short. Calyx deeply 4-lobed; lobes obtuse, much shorter than the oblong obtuse petals. Scales 4, linear-cuneate, truncate at the tip. Carpels 4, turgid, obtuse; styles short, recurved. Seeds 6–8, rarely more.—Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 535; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 76; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 61; Kirk, Students Fl. 142. Bulliarda moschata, D'Urv. in Mem. Soc. Linn. Par. iv. 618; Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 13.
