South Island: Nelson—Wairau Mountains, Travers, T.F.C.; Mount Captain, Kirk! Mount Percival, T.F.C. Marlborough—Upper Awatere, Monro, Sinclair! Otago—Kurow Mountains, Buchanan! Petrie! Altitudinal range 3000–6000 ft.
A remarkably distinct species, in its ordinary state quite unlike any other. Its neatest ally is E. brevipes, which is a much larger and more erect plant, with shorter elliptic leaves, smaller and more numerous flowers, and much shorter fruiting peduncles.
20. E. brevipes, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 328.—Stout, smooth, glossy, reddish-purple. Stems many from a woody rhizome, 6–15 in. high, prostrate or strags^ling, branched, ascending above, perfectly glabrous, densely leafy. Leaves all opposite, spreading, ¾–1 in. long, elliptic-oblong or elliptic-lanceolate, acute or subacute, gradually narrowed into a rather long petiole, coriaceous and shining, usually reddish, remotely denticulate. Flowers rather numerous, in the axils of the upper leaves, sessile, ¼–⅓ in. diam., white or rose. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, acute, almost equalling the petals. Stigma clavate. Capsules ¾–1¼ in. long, slender, glabrous, exceeding the leaves; peduncles very short, hardly elongating in fruit. Seeds minutely reticulate.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 78; Haussk. Monog. Epilob. 307, t. 21, f. 89; Barbey, Gen. Epilob. t. 19; Kirk, Students' Fl. 176.
South Island: Marlborough—Upper Awatere, Monro, Kirk! Taylor's Pass, Spencer; Mount Fyffe, Cockayne! Kaikoura Mountains, McDonald. Nelson—Hanmer Plains, H. J. Matthews! Gorge of the Conway, Cockayne! Canterbury—Mount Torlesse, Enys and Kirk! Cockayne! Altitudinal range 1000–3500 ft. December–February.
21. E. vernicosum, Cheesem. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. [[Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute/Volume 28/Article 54#535|xxviii. (1896) 535.—Stems numerous from a woody rootstock, 4–8 in. high, decumbent or prostrate at the base, erect or ascending above, terete, bifariouslv pubescent. Leaves usually crowded, opposite or the uppermost alternate, ¼–¾ in. long, linear-oblong to oblong or oblongovate, obtuse or subacute, shortly petiolate, coriaceous, very glossy, usually reddish, obscurely and remotely sinuate-denticulate. Flowers 3–5 towards the tips of the branches, almost sessile, very large, ⅓–⅔ in. diam., pale-rose. Calyx-lobes lanceolate, acute, much shorter than the broad bilobed petals. Stigma shortly and obliquely clavate. Capsules (not quite mature) about 1 in. long, perfectly glabrous; peduncles apparently short. Seeds smooth (?)—Kirk, Students' Fl. 176.
South Island: Nelson—Mount Arthur Plateau and adjacent mountains, altitude 3000–5000 ft., T.F.C., Gibbs! Raglan Mountains and Wairau Gorge, T.F.C. Otago—Arrowtown, Petrie!
The shining leaves and large rose-coloured flowers, which are produced in great abundance, make this a very charming plant. The flowers are larger than those of any other New Zealand species except E. pallidiflorum.
22. E. pycnostachyum, Haussk. in Oestr. Bot. Zeitschr. xxix. (1879) 150.—Stems numerous from the top of a woody prostrate
