Authors:
A prostrate or sprawling to semi-erect shrub up to 60cm tall (to 3m in var. erectus) with slender branchlets. Leaves densely and spirally arranged 6-20mm long, very narrow, short-stalked, leathery. Male catkins solitary or a few together, 12-20mm long. Seed small, nut-like, on prominent fleshy base. North and South Islands of New Zealand, at subalpine to low alpine elevations in subalpine scrub and mixed tussock grass-scrub, scree margins, rock debris and glacial moraines.
Many variations on themes of foliage colour, overall size and vigour occur in the wild. Several of these are stocked under cultivar names, having been mainly collected by Graham Hutchins: 'Clarence' is a semi-erect male with light green foliage and pinkish catkins; Clarence Pass, South Island. 'Green Queen' is a strong-growing green-leaved female from near Lake Tennyson, South Island. 'Jacks Pass' is a semi-erect tallish male with brick-red catkins, which the collector considers could be a hybrid with P. hallii; Jacks Pass, South Island. 'Little Lady' is a small neat female with bright green leaves and freely produced fruit if a pollinator is nearby; Mount Princess, South Island. 'Otari' is a small-growing male, having green to tan leaves in summer and tan to brown in winter, the catkins are also brown; presumably from Otari Living Plant Museum, near Wellington, North Island. 'Park Cover', is strong-growing and prostrate, sex not known, from Mount Southey, South Island. 'Princess' is a strong-growing, green female freely producing large fruits in the presence of a pollinator, from Mount Princess, South Island. More recently, bronzed and yellow-leaved forms have been collected and hybrids raised, with young leaves tinted pink, red, purple and chocolate.
