Class
Family
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Nertera villosa B.H.Macmill. & R.Mason, New Zealand J. Bot. 33: 435 (1995)
Description
Prostrate hirsute herb, openly branched, rooting at nodes. Stems 0.6-1 mm diam. with internodes 2- 4 cm long, densely hairy when young. Hairs subappressed at first, becoming patent to erect, straight, becoming bent, 3-5-celled, the distal cell tapered to a fine point. Leaves opposite, stipulate, petiolate. Stipule interpetiolar, adnate to base of petiole, broadly triangular, 1 × 1.5 mm, hirsute abaxially when young, becoming membranous. Petiole (4-)6-10mm long, hirsute. Lamina broadly ovate-deltoid, 7-15 × 5-13 mm, apex subacute, base truncate, entire, with scattered erect hairs on both surfaces, margins glabrous, rich green above, pale green or purplish below, veins obscure above, clear below, raphides obscure. Flowers bisexual, protogynous, solitary and terminal on short branchlets, sessile, closely subtended by 2 pairs of leaves. Calyx a shallow rim, irregularly lobed, lobes c. 0.2 mm long. Corolla funnelform, c. 3 mm long, 4-lobed, lobes ovate, spreading, translucent green with purple flecks abaxially, 1 mm long, acute, hirsute abaxially, margins papillose. Stamens 4, filaments glabrous, attached to receptacle and adnate to base of corolla tube, anthers yellow, dorsifixed, exserted from corolla. Style bifid, pale green, branches diverging, exserted from corolla. Ovary inferior, 2- celled, with 1 ovule in each cell. Fruit a globose drupe, orange to red, shining, c. 6 mm diam., often hirsute, pyrenes 2, plano-convex, c. 3.5 × 2.5 mm.
[Reproduced from Mcmillan (1995, New Zealand J. Bot. 33: 435–438) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Macmillan, B.H. 1995: Nertera villosa B.H.Macmill. et R.Mason (Rubiaceae), a new species from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 33: 435–438.
