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-
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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. |