Mazus pumilio R.Br.

Perennial creeping herb. Main branches 30-400 × 1.5—3 mm, prostrate, subterranean, white, rooting at nodes; internodes 15— 25 mm long. Lateral branches 5-20(-50) mm long, erect. Leaves 10—30(—120) mm long, opposite, spathulate, usually purple-brown in full light, green or green-brown on shaded plants, only rarely with dark marks on margin of adaxial surface; lamina 8— 20(-40) × 5—12(—25) mm, obovate to broad-elliptic, flat or weakly undulate, with midrib and sometimes main veins raised on abaxial surface; base attenuate to cuneate and usually asymmetric; apex obtuse; margin entire; adaxial surface and margin with both scattered eglandular septate and glandular hairs; abaxial surface usually sparsely hairy; petiole 2—10(— 80) mm long, subterete, usually sparsely hairy. Cotyledons 3-4 × 1.7-2 mm, spathulate, fleshy, glabrous, green or green-brown. Inflorescences terminal on lateral branches, 2-3(-4)-flowered; flowers held closely above or among leaves. Peduncle 5-8 mm long, with scattered glandular hairs on distal part. Bracts 2-3 mm long, subtending pedicels (or bracts absent and bracteoles on pedicel), acicular to narrowlinear; distal part of abaxial surface with erect, spreading, or weakly retrorse eglandular septate hairs; adaxial surface glabrous; margin with eglandular septate hairs; apex acute. Pedicel 3-5 mm long, glabrous but with sessile glands. Calyx 5— 6 mm long, broad-campanulate, green, with scattered eglandular septate and glandular hairs, with prominent ridges on adaxial surface; teeth 2—3 mm long, triangular, with scattered eglandular septate hairs on margin; adaxial surface glabrous. Corolla 6.5—9 mm long, white, flushed purple in throat and on proximal part of upper lobes, yellow on palate, glabrous apart from clavate hairs on palate and fewscattered eglandular septate hairs on abaxial surface of lower lip. Tube 2—4 mm long. Lower lobes 2— 2.5 mm long, usually rounded, sometimes square or rectangular, sometimes narrowed slightly in proximal part, each apex usually retuse or sometimes rounded; outer two lobes spreading away from central lobe; palate comprising 2 longitudinal elevations extending from point of filament fusion to base of lower lobes. Upper lobes 1.8-2.2 mm long, narrowtriangular, horizontal, sometimes stepped; apex subacute, sometimes weakly obtuse or retuse. Stamens 4, glabrous, inserted at the same level in distal part of tube; filaments 1-1.2 mm long, curved, those on upper lip appressed to corolla tube, those on lower lip spreading; anthers c. 0.3 × c. 0.5 mm, dehiscing antrorsely, positioned adjacent to corolla tube on upper lip. Ovary 1.3-1.6 mm long, glabrous, ovoid; style 2-2.5 mm long, positioned asymmetrically on summit of ovary, exserted beyond anthers; stigmatic lobes 0.7-0.8 × 0.5-0.6 mm, rhomboid. Fruit (3.5- )4.5_7(_9) long, (3.5-)4-5(-6) mm wide on the broad face, orbicular, ± bilaterally compressed, persistent, indehiscent and fleshy; apex rounded; base flattened. Calyx fleshy and greatly enlarged at maturity, with style remnants and distal part of fruit often protruding from the calyx. Fresh fruit and calyx red-purple, remaining so for up to 12 months, persisting longer dried and pale brown. Seed 0.7- 0.9 mm long, usually elliptic or elliptic-oblong, sometimes broadly elliptic, usually rounded at both ends, sometimes narrowed to base, usually terete, sometimes slightly flattened on 1 or 2 faces. Testa semi-glossy, henna to orange-brown, reticulate, the reticulations distinct and usually shallow with low slightly thickened walls, rarely the surface ruptured to give a honeycomb pattern. FL Nov-Dec, FT Dec- Jul(-Dec).

[Reproduced from Heenan & Forester (1997, New Zealand J. Bot. 35: 437–440) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]