Flora of New Zealand Series

E. prenanthoides DC. var. ß minor Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 141.

E. glabrescens Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 9, 1877, 550 non DC. Prodr. 6, 1838, 295.

Senecio wairauensis Belcher loc. cit. 55.

Type locality: Lake Rotoiti, Nelson. Type: K, T. Kirk 824, Jan. 1875.

Slender erect to spreading annual to biennial herb with simple or sparingly branched, sulcate, nearly glab. stems up to ± 5 dm. tall, us. shorter. Lower lvs crowded, ± 7-15 × (2.5)-5-6 cm., including petiole = or < lamina. Lamina lyrate, membr., glab. or nearly so, us. purplish below, broad-ovate to oblong to obovate in outline. Terminal lobe large, obtuse, shallowly to rather deeply lobulate; lobules rounded, apiculate. Petiole narrowly winged with or without one or more pairs of oblong to broad-ovate lobes, these with coarse rounded apiculate lobules or entire, ciliolate, semiamplexicaul and auriculate at base. Mid lvs similar, ± oblong in outline, more deeply lobed; uppermost narrow-oblong, pinnatifid. Infl. a subcorymbose lax panicle; bracts filiform to linear-subulate, c. 3-5 mm. long. Capitula, often few, c. 9 mm. long; phyll. 10-14, c. 6 × 0·5 mm. with 2-nerved keel, margins broadly scarious. ♀ ± 10-15, occ. bearing staminodes, style-arms glab. or nearly so, corolla filiform, c. 4 mm. long, teeth 4; perfect florets with style-arms sparsely hairy, corolla narrow-funnelform, 5-toothed. Achenes 3-4 mm. long, glab., grooved, narrowed to very short beak. Pappus-hairs fine, white, c. 6 mm. long.

DIST.: Lowland to montane streamsides, forest margins and damp open places: N. Volcanic Plateau; S., St. Lowland to lower subalpine throughout, but rather local.

Kirk (T.N.Z.I. 9, 1877, 550) has for his E. glabrescens : "Hab.: South Island: Roto-iti, Wairau Valley, T.K.; Wairau Valley, Nelson, W. T. L. Travers; Lake Hawea; Valley of the Dart, Otago, T.K.; Stewart Island, G. M. Thompson. Originally discovered by Mr. W. T. L. Travers."

Apparently "Wairau Valley" after "Roto-iti" is intrusive, and as Kirk's label shows, should be "Nelson". There is no Rotoiti in Wairau Valley.