Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/518

478 Canterbury Plains, ''Armstrong! Kirk! Mackenzie Plains and Lake Tekapo, T.F.C. Otago—Not uncommon in the central and eastern districts, Buchanan! Petrie!'' Sea-level to 3000ft. December–March.

A remarkably variable little plant, closely allied to the common C. arvensis, L., of the Northern Hemisphere.

Small prostrate or creeping perennial herbs. Leaves orbicular-cordate or reniform, entire. Flowers small, solitary, axillary. Sepals subequal, distinct to the base. Corolla broadly campanulate, deeply 5-lobed; lobes induplicate. Stamens shorter than the corolla; filaments filiform; anthers small. Ovary of 2 distinct lobes or carpels, each 1-celled with a basal style and 1 or 2 ovules. Capsules 2, membranous, erect, 1- or rarely 2-seeded, indehiscent or bursting irregularly.

1. D. repens, ''Forst. Char. Gen.'' 39, t. 20.—A small silky-pubescent creeping herb; stems slender, 2–12 in. long, rooting at the nodes, branched, often forming broad matted patches. Leaves alternate or tufted at the nodes, usually on long petioles; blade ¼–1 in. diam., reniform, emarginate or rounded at the apex, silky on both surfaces. Peduncles as long or longer than the petioles. Flowers small, greenish-yellow, about ⅙ in. diam. Sepals obovate, silky. Corolla about equalling the sepals, rarely slightly longer. Capsules enclosed in the persistent calyx and shorter than it.—''Forst. Prodr. n. 134: A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 201; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 397; Raoul, Choix, 44; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 185; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 199; Benth. Fl. Austral.'' iv. 438.

2. D. brevifolia, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. (1871) 208.—Much smaller and more densely matted than D. repens, often formmg a compact turf. Leaves on short stout petioles; blade ⅛–¼ in. diam., orbicular-oblong or reniform, emarginate or rounded at the apex, cordate at the base, rather thick, silky on both surfaces or almost glabrous. Peduncles stout, erect, usually longer than the leaves. Flowers larger than in D. repens, ¼ in. diam., yellowish.