Luzula banksiana E.Mey. var. banksiana
Type: CHR, 391, Heads of Port Nicholson (Wellington), rocks, H. H. Allan, 13/11/1928.
Lvs 2–5–(7) mm. wide, often drooping. Flowering stems 3–15–(30) cm. long, c. = lvs in length. Infl. a compact, almost white head, occ. with 1–3 smaller, lateral pedunculate clusters. Fls 2.5–3.5–(4) mm. long; tepals with a longitudinal, dark brown central stripe, margins membr., silver-white, distinct from tip to base. Capsule greenish brown to light red-brown. 2n = 12.
DIST.: N., S. On coastal rocks at Auckland, New Plymouth and Otakeho, Taranaki, on both sides of Cook Strait and at Kahurangi Point, N.W. Nelson.
The Banks specimen from "Nova Zeelandica" on which Meyer based his original description was destroyed during the Second World War. It was illustrated in Buchenau's monograph in Pflanzenr. fig. 53. The neotype was chosen by Edgar (N.Z. J. Bot. 4, 1966, 170).
Distinguished by the compact infl. and long silver tepals with a narrow brown central stripe.
