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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
9. Herpolirion, Hook. f
9. Herpolirion, Hook. f.
A dwarf perennial herb. Rhizome slender, creeping, branched. Leaves crowded on short shoots from the rhizome, all radical, linear, distichous, sheathing at the base. Flower solitary, terminal, almost sessile amongst the leaves. Perianth funnel-shaped, per-sistent, 6-partite; segments distinct, linear, subequal, 5-nerved. Stamens 6, attached to the base of the segments and shorter than them; filaments filiform; anthers linear, erect, twisted after flowering, cells introrse, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary subglobose, sessile, 3-celled; ovules several in each cell; style filiform; stigma terminal, punctiform. Capsule globose, enclosed in the persistent perianth, 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved. Seeds oblong, subcom-pressed, quite smooth; testa black, crustaceous.
A monotypic genus confined to the mountains of New Zealand, Tasmania, and south-eastern Australia.
| 1. | H. novæ-zealandiæ, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 258.—Small, often forming broad patches in subalpine swamps. Leaves crowded; flat or involute, linear, striate, glaucous; the outer spreading or recurved, 1–2½ in. long; the inner much shorter, reduced to erect lanceolate sheathing bracts. Flower almost sessile, large for the size of the plant, ½–¾ in. long, lilac-blue or white. Perianth-segments erect below, spreading from a little below the middle. Stamens about half as long as the segments; filaments flattened, pubescent; anthers shortly sagittate at the base. Capsule globose-trigonous,¼–⅓ in. diam. — Handb. N.Z. Fl. 287. H. Tasmamæ, Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. ii 54, t.132b.
North Island: Plains near Taupo, Colenso! Tryon! near Tongariro, H. Hill! T. F. C.; Whakaki, Hawke's Bay, Bishop Williams! South Island, Stewart Island: Not uncommon in subalpine swamps throughout. Usually from 2000 ft. to 4000 ft., but descends to sea-level in Otago and Stewart Island. December–January. |