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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
2.Pernettya, Gaud
2.Pernettya, Gaud.
Glabrous or hispid rigid shrubs, usually of small size. Leaves small, alternate, shortly petiolate, penniveiued, serrate. Flowers small, axillary and solitary or racemose. Calyx 5-partite, not enlarged and succulent in fruit. Corolla urceolate or almost globose, shortly 5-lobed; lobes recurved. Stamens 10, included within the corolla-tube; filaments dilated at the base; anthers 2-celled, dehiscing by a large terminal pore, cells each with 2 erect awns. Ovary 5-lobed and 5-celled; ovules several in each cell; style cylindrical; stigma simple. Berry globose, 5-celled. Seeds numerous, minute, compressed.
A genus comprising about 15 species, all American except the one described below and a closely allied one from the mountains of Tasmania.
Pernettya macrostigma, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxi. (1889) 92, is shown by the type specimens in Mr. Oolenso's herbarium to be Qaultheria cmtipoda var. microphylla. In like manner, P. polyphylla, Col. l.c. xxxi. (1899) 274, is identical with Pentachondra pumila.
| 1. | P. nana, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 389.—A small creeping densely matted little shrub; branches short, ascending, ½–3 in. high, rarely more, minutely puberulous towards the tips. Leaves very shortly petiolate, ⅙–¼ in. long, oblong-lanceolate to oblong, acute or subacute, very thick and coriaceous, glabrous or very minutely puberulous, entire or with 2–3 indistinct teeth on each side. Flowers 2–4 near the tips of the branches, solitary, axillary, about ⅙ in. long; peduncles snort, 2–3-bracteolate. Calyx-lobes ovate-triangular, acute, ciliolate. Corolla broadly urceolate. Stamens reaching above the base of the corolla-lobes; filaments 4 or 5 times as long as the anthers, gradually dilated downwards. Anthers oblong, each cell tipped with 2 short bristles. Style cylindrical, equalling the stamens in length; stigma minutely 5-toothed. Berry globose-depressed, seated in the persistent calyx, which is sometimes slightly enlarged and fleshy.—P. tasmanica, Hook.f. Hanclb. N.Z. Fl. 176, but not of Fl. Tasm. i. 242, t. 73, B. P. tasmanica var. neo-zealandica, Kirk in Traits. N.Z. Inst. xxvii. (1895) 351.
South Island: Canterbury—By the Porter River and in other places in the Broken River basin, Enys! Kirk! T. F. C.; Southern Alps, J. F. Armstrong! Mount Cook district, Suter! T. F. C.; Hopkins River, Haast. Otago—Hector Mountains and Mount Bonpland, Petrie! 2000–5000 ft. December–February. page 409This was referred to P. tasmanica by Hooker, but it appears to constantly differ from that plant in the rather broader leaves, acute triangular calyx-lobes, longer filaments, which equal or exceed the style in length, and especially in the anther-cells having 2 minute awns at the tip, in this respect agreeing with the American species of the genus. |