Flora of New Zealand Series

H. demissa Simpson in T.R.S.N.Z. 75, 1945, 193.

Type locality: Rock and Pillar Range, "moist grassy banks near small streams, rather scarce". Type: BD 48080A, G. Simpson, from a plant in cultivation.

Plant low and spreading, up to 15 cm. tall. Branchlets 2 mm. diam., terete; lvs convex, appressed, rounded at apex with minute mucronate tip.

DIST.: S.

Simpson's sp. is here maintained as a var. pending a fuller investigation of its status. It is founded on plants originating from only a single gathering which, though distinctly more slender than the typical form, do not appear to differ in any other respect; slightly mucronate lvs also occur in much stouter plants. Simpson notes: "The shrunken, keeled, triangular tipped leaves of dried specimens are quite unlike those of living plants." In the several sheets of material from Simpson's garden the dry lvs spread widely and many of the spikes have proliferated.