.jpg)
Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
5. Archeria, Hook. f
5. Archeria, Hook. f.
Much-branched erect or spreading shrubs. Leaves flat. Flowers white or pink, in few-flowered terminal racemes. Bracts caducous. Calyx of 5 almost free sepals. Corolla-tube rather broad, ventricose-cylindrical or almost campanulate; lobes 5, short, spreading or recurved, imbricate in the bud. Stamens 5, affixed to the throat of the corolla; filaments very short; anthers broad, attached about the middle. Hypogynous disc short, cupular or of 5 free scales. Ovary 5-celled and deeply 5-lobed; style columnar, inserted in a broad depression at the top of the ovary; stigma dilated, more or less distinctly 5-lobed; ovules numerous in each cell. Capsule -5-celled, loculicidally 5-valved. Seeds numerous.
page 417A small genus of 5 species, confined to New Zealand and Tasmania. It differs from Epacris mainly in habit, in the deciduous bracts, and in the position of the style.
| Leaves1–1½ in., obovate-oblong | 1. A. racemosa. |
| Leaves⅓–¾ in., lanceolate | 2. A. Traversii. |
| 1. | A. racemosa, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 180.—An erect much-branched shrub 6–15 ft. high; bark black; branches spreading. Leaves scattered at intervals so as to appear almost whorled, spreading, 1–1½ in. long. ⅛–½ in. broad, obovate-oblong or elliptic-oblong, acute, sometimes almost pungent, narrowed into a very short petiole or almost sessile, flat, rigid and coriaceous; veins reticulated. Racemes terminating the branches, solitary or 2–3 together, 1–2 in. long, 10–25-flowered; rhachis pubescent; pedicels short, stout, curved. Bracts coloured, caducous; a large leaf-like one at the base of each pedicel, and 2 smaller and narrower ones just below the flower. Sepals oblong-lanceolate; margins membranous, ciliolate. Corolla ⅙ in. long, pink; tube short and broad; lobes short, spreading, ovate-triangular, obtuse. Style short, stout. Capsule small, globose, ⅛ in. diam.—Epacris racemosa, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 167.
North Island: Great Barrier Island, Sinclair, Kirk! Little Barrier Island, Shakespear! T. F. C.; Thames goldfields, Kirk, Adams! T. F. C.; East Cape district, Bishop Williams! 500–2800 ft. January–February. The large concave bracts entirely hide the young racemes, but fall off as soon as the flowers commence to expand. |
| 2. | A. Traversii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 180.—A large much- branched shrub 6–15 ft. high; bark dark-brown; branches spreading. Leaves scattered, spreading, ⅓–½ in. long, lanceolate or linear- lanceolate, acute, thick and coriaceous, quite glabrous, smooth and shining above, midrib distinct beneath; margins recurved, often ciliolate. Racemes terminal, ½–1 in. long, 8–15-nowered; rhachis and pedicels pubescent. Bracts oblong, membranous, caducous, falling away as soon as the flowers commence to open. Sepals oblong, obtuse, striate; margins membranous, ciliolate. Corolla ⅛–⅙ in. long, campanulate. reddish; lobes short, spreading. Style very short, stout. Capsule minute, depressed, 1/10 in. diam.
Var. australis, Hook. f. l.c. 735.—Stouter. Leaves longer and broader, ½–¾ in., elliptical-lanceolate or oblong, obtuse or subacute. Flowers rathec longer. South Island: Nelson—Aorere Valley, Travers; Mount Arthur Plateau, T. F. C.; Brunner Range, Townson! Canterbury and Westland—Bealey Gorge and Arthur's Pass, Kirk! Cockayne! T. F. C.; Browning's Pass, Haast! Rangitaipo, Petrie! Otago—Lake Wanaka, Buchanan! Clinton Valley, Reece and Hollyford Valleys, Petrie! Var. australis: Common in the sounds of the south-west of Otago, Hector and Buchanan! Stewart Island: Mount Anglem, Kirk! Sea-level to 4000 ft. January–February. 14-F1. |