A very distinct species. The leaves are quite unlike those of any other species belonging to the same section of the genus, having the sheathing bases not much wider than the blade; but they much resemble those of D. strictum, in the section with panicled inflorescence. Its only near ally is D. pubescens, which differs in the pubescent leaves and 3–5-flowered spikes.
15. D. uniflorum, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 182.—A stout erect shrub 3–6 ft. high; bark dark-brown or almost black. Leaves crowded at the tips of the branches, erect, strict or flexuous, ½–2 in. long; sheathing base 110–16 in. broad, rounded at the tip but not auricleii, margins cihate; blade 120–115 in. broad at the base, rigid, coriaceous, pungent, semiterete below, triquetrous above, margin most minutely serrulate. Flowers solitary, lateral, ¼–⅓ in. long, shortly pedicelled. Bracts 3–6, with broad sheathing bases, tips pungent, often exceeding the flower. Sepals ovate-lanceolate, acute, as long as the corolla-tube. Corolla-lobes ovate-triangular, acute. Capsule broadly obovoid, enclosed in the persistent calvx-lobes.—D. acerosum, Berggr. in Minnesk. Fisiog. Sallsk. Lund. (1877) 15.
Var. acicularifolium.—Leaves much longer, 2–4 in., narrowed into long acicular points; sheaths broader, auricled at the tips.
Var. virgatum.—Whole plant purplish-brown. Branches long, very slender, sparingly leafy. Leaves small, ¼–¾ in. long. Bracts with pale membranous margins.
South Island: Abundant in mountain districts from Nelson to Foveaux Straits. Var. acicularifolium: Broken River basin, and other localities in the mountains of Canterbury, Kirk! Enys! T. F. C. Var. virgatum: Westland—Near Kumara, Kirk! Denniston, J. Caffin! 2000–4500 ft. December–March.
16. D. rosmarinifolium, R. Br. Prodr. 556.—A depressed or prostrate, rarely suberect, much-branched rigid woody shrub 3–12 in. high; branches stout, spreading, leafy at the tips. Leaves erect or spreading, rigid, straight or curved, ¼–¾ in. long; sheathing base short, ⅛ in. wide; blade 120 in. wide at the base, very thick and coriaceous, convex at the back, flat or concave in front, tip trigonous, obtuse or rarely subacute, margins entire or very minutely scabrid. Flowers solitary, terminating the branchlets and often confined to the lateral ones, ⅙ in. long. Bracts numerous, with broad sheathing bases and subulate tips. Sepals ovate, acute, about as long as the corolla-tube. Corolla-lobes ovate, acute.—A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 220; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 414; Raoul, Choix, 44; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 171; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 183. Epacris rosmarinifolia, Forst. Prodr. n. 67.
Var. politum.—Stems long and creeping or short and tufted, sometimes forming compact masses. Leaves numerous, densely imbricated in many series, erect and appressed to the branch, ¼–⅓ in. long, red-brown, convex and smooth and polished on the back, concave in front, tips very obtuse. Flowers almost hidden by the leaves.
