Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Myrtales Juss. ex Bercht. & J.Presl
Family
Onagraceae
Genus
Epilobium L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Epilobium billardiereanum subsp. cinereum (A.Rich.) P.H.Raven & Engelhorn, New Zealand J. Bot. 9: 943 (1971)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Epilobium cinereum A.Rich., Essai Fl. Nouv.-Zél., 330 (1832)
  • ≡ Epilobium junceum var. cinereum (A.Rich.) Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 169 (1899)
  • = Epilobium junceum G.Forst., Fl. Ins. Austr. (1786) nom. nud.
  • = Epilobium baueri Endl., Enum. Pl. (Endlicher) 44 (1837)
  • = Epilobium canescens Endl., Enum. Pl. (Endlicher) 44 (1837)
  • = Epilobium confertum A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 34 (1839)
Original material (according to the protologue): "New Zealand (Northern Island). Among grass on river banks, Wangaroa. – 1826, A. Cunningham". Type (fide Raven, Raven, 1976: 120): "Among grass on river banks, Whangaroa, North Auckland, New Zealand, 1826, Allan Cunningham 549 (K. Isotypes, JE, WELT)". Allan (1961: 278) did not indicate any type material but merely stated that Hooker (1852) included E. confertum in a broad concept of E. junceum Sol.
  • = Epilobium incanum A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 33 (1839)
  • = Epilobium virgatum A.Cunn., Ann. Nat. Hist. 3: 33 (1839) nom. illeg.
Original material (according to the protologue): "New Zealand (Northern Island). In woods near the falls of the Keri-Keri river, at the head of the Kana-Kana river, &c., Bay of Islands.—1834. R. Cunningham". Type (fide Raven, Raven, 1976: 120): "Margins of woods, near the falls [Haruru Falls – P.dL.] of the Waitangi River, North Auckland, New Zealand, 1834, Richard Cunningham 545 (K. Isotype. WELT)".
  • = Epilobium junceum var. caninum H.Lév. (1894)
  • = Epilobium junceum var. corymbosum H.Lév. (1894)
  • = Epilobium junceum var. macrophyllum Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 175 (1906)
 Description

Stems stiff, erect, us. much-branched from a stout woody base, up to 6 dm. tall; branches ± virgate, terete, lfy, ashy-pubescent, becoming glab.; branchlets very slender. Lvs subopp., sts fascicled, sessile. Lamina linear, ± spathulate, us. mucronulate, 6–15 × 1–3 mm., with occ. ones up to ± 20 mm. long, submembr., clad in ash-grey pubescence on both surfaces; margins distinctly, rather coarsely denticulate to subentire. Fls us. extending well down stems, ± 3–4 mm. diam.; calyx 3–4 mm. long, cut to ± halfway into ovate, pubescent lobes; petals reddish to rose, rarely white, ± 4–5 mm. long. Capsule ashy-pubescent, obscurely tetragonous, 40–50 mm. long; peduncles very slender, finely pubescent, 15–20 mm. long. Seeds minutely papillose.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1 as Epilobium cinereum A.Rich.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
Cunningham, A. 1839: Florae insularum Novae Zelandiae precursor; or a specimen of the botany of the islands of New Zealand. Annals of Natural History 3: 29–34.
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. [as Epilobium cinereum A.Rich.] [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. [as Epilobium cinereum A.Rich.] [Not Threatened]
Endlicher, S.F.L.; Fenzl, E.; Bentham, G. & Schott, H.W. 1837: Enumeratio plantarum quas in Novae Hollandiae ora austro-occidentali ad Fluvium Cygnorum et in Sinu Regis Georgii collegit Carolus liber baro de Hügel. Beck, Vienna.
Forster, J.G.A. 1786: Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus. Dietrich, Göttingen.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.
Mosyakin, S.L.; de Lange, P.J.; Antonenko, S.I.; Klimovych, N.B. 2020: Types and other historical specimens of Allan and Richard Cunningham's taxa of Epilobium and Fuchsia (Onagraceae) from New Zealand in the Turczaninow Herbarium at the National Herbarium of Ukraine (KW). Ukrainian Botanical Journal 77(4): 249–269.
Raven, P.H.; Engelhorn, T. 1971: New Taxa and New Combinations in Australasian Epilobium (Onagraceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 9: 345–350.
Raven, P.H.; Raven, T. E. 1976: The Genus Epilobium (Onagraceae) in Australasia: a Systematic and Evolutionary Study. New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin 216: 1–321.
Richard, A. 1832: Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande. In: Dumont d'Urville, J. Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe. Botanique. Tastu, Paris.