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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.

5. Gratiola, Linn

5. Gratiola, Linn.

Herbs, glabrous or glandular - pubescent. Leaves opposite, entire or toothed. Flowers axillary and solitary, 2-bracteolate. Calyx deeply 5-partite; segments nearly equal. Corolla-tube cylindric; lips spreading, upper entire or 2-fid, lower 3-fid. Perfect stamens 2, included; anther-cells distinct, parallel; staminodia or barren stamens 2, filiform, sometimes wanting. Style filiform; stigma dilated and deflexed, entire or 2-lamellate. Capsule ovoid, loculicidally or septicidally dehiscent, 4-valved, valves separating from a columnar placentiferous axis. Seeds numerous, small, reticulate.

A genus consisting of about 25 species, scattered over the temperate and subtropical portions of both hemispheres. One of the New Zealand species has a wide range in Australia and extra-tropical South America; the other extends to Victoria and Tasmania alone.

Suberect, usually glabrous. Leaves ¼–¾ in. long 1. G. peruviana.
Procumbent, usually glandular-pilose. Leaves ⅙–¼ in 2. G. nana.
1.G. peruviana, Linn. Sp. Plant. 17.—Stems stout, glabrous or slightly viscid-pubescent, laxly branched, ascending or suberect from a decumbent or almost prostrate base, 3–12 in. high. Leaves opposite, sessile, ¼–¾ in. long, ovate or ovate-lanceolate or oblong, dis- page 487 tantly and sometimes obscurely serrate, usually 3-nerved. Flowers in the axils of the leaves; peduncles very short, sometimes almost wanting. Calyx-segments lanceolate, acuminate. Corolla ⅓–½ in. long, white or yellowish-white with a yellow throat, the lips broad, much shorter than the tube. Anthers connivent; cells transverse, parallel, Staminodia filiform, elongated. Capsule ovoid-globose, ⅕ in. long, membranous.—Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 493. G. sexdentata, A. Cunn. Precur. n. 383; Raoul, Choix, 43; Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 189; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 203. G. latifolia, R. Br. Prodr. 435; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iii. (1871) 165. G. glandulifera, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvii. (1885) 245.

North Island: Common in lowland swamps throughout. South Island: Nelson—Buller Valley; Charleston, Townson! Otago—Lake Te Anau, Petrie. Sea-level to 1500 ft. November–February.

Also common in Australia and Tasmania, and in many parts of extra-tropical South America.

2.G. nana, Benth. in D.C. Prodr. x. 404.—Stems procumbent or creeping, much branched, often matted, 2–8 in. long, usually more or less clothed with jointed glandular hairs, but sometimes almost glabrous; branches ascending at the tips. Leaves sessile or very shortly petiolate, ⅙–¼ in. long, broad or narrow-oblong or obovate, obtuse or subacute, narrowed at the base, obtusely toothed, glabrous or glandular-pilose. Flowers few, on short peduncles. Calyx glandular-pilose; segments often toothed. Corolla ¼–⅓ in. long, white or white with pinkish veins, throat yellow; lobes short, rounded. Anthers connivent; cells transverse, parallel. Staminodia filiform, elongated. Capsule broadly ovoid.—Handb. N.Z. "Fl. 203; Benth. Fl. Austral. iv. 493. G. pubescens, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 189 (not of R. Br.). G. coneinna, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xix. (1887) 264.

North Island: Auckland—Bay of Islands, R. Cunningham (Handbook); swamps between the Manukau Harbour and Waikato River, Carse! Hawke's Bay—Norsewood, Colenso! Taranaki—Ngaire Swamp, Kirk! South Island: From Nelson to Southland, but not common. Sea-level to 2500 ft. November–February.

Apparently a variable little plant. South Island specimens are stouter and more densely leafy, and have larger flowers than those from the North Island. Also found in Victoria and Tasmania.