Flora of New Zealand Series

creeping cudweed

Stoloniferous perennial; stems 1-3-(6), ascending, simple, 6-25-(40) cm tall. Lvs mostly basal at flowering; basal lvs usually long-petiolate, densely white-tomentose on lower surface usually not including mid-vein, glabrous and shiny on upper (sometimes sparsely to moderately tomentose when young), plane, oblanceolate to narrow-elliptic, long-cuneate, subacute to acute, mucronate, 30-190 × 3-10-(20) mm; cauline lvs becoming slightly or not reduced upwards, often lanceolate or narrow-elliptic, apetiolate and broad-based. Capitula 1.5-2 mm diam., 10-numerous in dense ± globular terminal clusters, very rarely smaller axillary clusters below; longest subtending lvs 1-3× diam. of cluster. Involucral bracts oblong, obtuse to subacute, 3.5-4.5 mm long; stereome green; lamina pale brown, with dark band at base; gap and rarely upper margin bright reddish purple. Achenes minutely papillate, c. 0.8 mm long.

N.: throughout; S.: Nelson, Marlborough, N. Canterbury and collected once from Redcliffs, Banks Peninsula; K., Ch.

Also indigenous to S.E. Australia and Tasmania.

Lowland to montane, mostly forest margins and clearings and scrubland, also grassland, pasture, riverflats, swamp margins and waste places.

In most cases this sp. can be distinguished easily by the large, long-petiolate basal lvs glabrous on their upper surface. Plants from K., and some northern North Id material, differ in having the upper lf surface tomentose but match G. gymnocephalum in other characters (see, Drury 1972, op. cit.). G. gymnocephalum as distinguished by Drury was treated by Allan (1961) as G. collinum Labill., a later homonym of G. collinum Salisb.