Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/189

2. H. tetragyna, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 62.—A rigid and wiry much-branched herb 6–15 in. high, usually scabrid with white oppressed hairs; stems prostrate or decumbent at the base, erect or ascending above, tetragonous. Leaves opposite, shortly petioled, ¼–¾ in. long, elliptical-ovate or oblong to lanceolate, acute, sharply serrate, coriaceous; floral leaves or bracts usually alternate. Flowers minute, sessile or nearly so, solitary in the axils of the floral leaves, forming slender leafy terminal spikes, which are sometimes branched and paniculate. Stamens 8. Styles 4; stigmas plumose. Fruit 1/10 in., broadly ovoid, 4–8-costate, transversely rugose or muricate.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 65; Benth. Fl. Austral. ii. 484; Kirk, Students Fl. 148. Goniocarpus tetragynus, Labill. Pl. Nov. Holl. 39, t. 53. A. Cunn. Precur. n. 529. Cercodia incana, A. Cunn. l.c. n. 528.

Var. diffusa, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 65.—Stems slender, spreading, prostrate. Leaves ¼–½ in., broader and more obtuse, with fewer teeth.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island: The typical form confined to the district between the North Cape and the Bay of Islands. Var. diffusa abundant throughout the Islands. The species is widely distributed in Australia, and is also found in China and Malaya, and in the Khasia Mountains of India.

3. H. depressa, Walp. Rep. ii. 99.—A small slender wiry much-branched herb 1–5 in. high, usually scabrid with short white hairs; rhizomes slender, creeping, often nauch branched; stems prostrate or suberect, tetragonous. Leaves opposite, sessile or nearly so, ¼–½ in. long, ovate or ovate-oblong, sometimes almost cordate, subacute, with 1–4 deep and narrow serratures on each side, coriaceous, margins strongly cartilaginous; floral leaves similar but smaller, usually all opposite. Flowers minute, sessile, axillary and solitary, forming short terminal spikes. Fruit 1/10 in. long, 4-angled, 4–8-costate; interspaces smooth and shining, not tuberculate.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 63; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 65; Benth. Fl. Austral. ii. 485; Kirk, Students Fl. 148. H. bibracteolata, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 462. Gonicarpus depressus, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 531.

Var. aggregata, Kirk, l.c. 149.—Flowers clustered at the tips of the branches, forming small heads.—H. aggregata, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. (1872) 224, t. 13.

Var. serpylllfolia, Benth. Fl. Austral. ii. 485.—Stems 1–4 in., usually creeping and matted, often forming a dense sward. Leaves 1/10–1/4 in., narrow-ovate to lanceolate, acute at both ends. Flowers fewer, often solitary on the branches. Fruit smaller.—H. uniflora, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. ix. (1877) 548. Gonicarpus serpyllifolius and G. vernicosus. Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 290, 311.

North and South Islands, Stewart Island: Abundant throughout, ascending to nearly 4000 ft. Also in Victoria and Tasmania.

A very variable plant. Some forms approach very close to H. tetragyna, but usually it can be easily separated from that species by the opposite flowers and the smooth interspaces of the fruit.