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Classification
Class
Family
Genus
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Geranium retrorsum L'Hér. ex DC. in de Candolle, Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 1, 644 (1824)
Vernacular Name(s):
Matua-kūmara; pukupuku; turnip-rooted geranium
Description
Perennial herb with napiform taproot c. 3 cm diam.; caulorrhiza short, bearing a number of flowering stems. Hairs variable, the longer mostly curved or bent near base. Basal lvs with petioles to c. 25 cm long with retrorse hairs. Lamina to 5 cm diam., suborbicular to orbicular, lobed to c. ⅞ way to midrib; lobes 5–7, linear, inconspicuously but uniformly hairy on both sides; larger lobes usually with 7 or 9 teeth; median and larger lateral teeth usually oblong, occasionally obovate to clavate, obtuse, subacute or mucronate. Cauline lvs smaller, with fewer lobes. Flowering stems with dense retrorse hairs or occasionally glabrescent; bracteoles linear to narrowly triangular; fls usually in pairs, occasionally solitary. Sepals c. 5 × 3 mm excluding awn, ovate or elliptic-ovate; awn to 1 mm long; hairs mostly short, appressed, longer on margins. Petals c. 6 × 4 mm, obovate, white to pink. Mericarps hairy; beak to 14 mm long. Seed c. 2 × 1.4 mm, oblong, dark; dorsal alveolae usually deep, 4–6-sided, ± isodiametric.
[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Phenology
Flowering: Oct.–Apr.
Bibliography
Aedo, C. 2023: A Monograph of the genus Geranium L. (Geraniaceae). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Madrid.
de Candolle, A.P. 1824: Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Vol. 1. Treuttel et Würtz, Paris.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Nationally Vulnerable]
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. [Nationally Vulnerable]
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. [Nationally Vulnerable]
Gardner, R.O. 1984: Geranium solanderi and allies in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 22: 127–134.
