Flora of New Zealand Series

Plants c. 90 cm high. Flowers distant along branchlets.

N. North Auckland - Kaitaia, Kaiaka, Maungatapere; Wellington - Hutt Valley. (N. America)

First record: ‡

First collection: Kaitaia, North Auckland, H. Carse, April 1897 (AK 59146).

J. tenuis is often confused with J. bufonius but forms denser tufts with basal leaves; the long-bracteate heads occupy less than a quarter of the plant height, and plants are not easily pulled from the soil. It differs from other spp. With non-septate leaves in the long papery auricles which are obvious in young leaves. J. tenuis has shorter capsules than the related J. imbricatus var. chamissonis and J. homalocaulis and it differs from J. dichotomus in having flat, not channelled leaves and in the tepals remaining appressed to the mature capsules and not spreading.

The range of habitats is similar to that of J. bufonius, but J. tenuis is more frequent in grassland, and is a persistent and troublesome tufted weed in damp pasture (rarely in arable land), more significant in recent years in improved swards in high rainfall localities. Its palatability varies from locality to locality, and at times, it is close-grazed by cattle. As it is tolerant of trampling and wheel abrasion, it is often well established and a nuisance in paths, shingle drives, farmyards, farm gateways and tracts, and in linear colonies along shingle verges of roads.

The seeds are mucilaginous as in J. bufonius and dispersed by man, water, animals and, to a limited distance, by wind.

J. tenuis Willd. var. secundus (Beauv.) Engelm. was recorded for Mangonui County by Carse (T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 239); Carse' s specimens from Mauku (CHR 329922), Maungatapere (CHR 329925), Kaiaka (CHR 329924) and Glen Eden, Auckland (CHR 329923) are all J. tenuis Willd var. tenuis.