Flora of New Zealand Series

L. micrantha Buch. var. crenulata (Buch.) Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl.  1906,  734.

Type: WELT, 12358, Old Man Range, 5,000 ft, D.P. [Petrie] 1596.

Dense round cushions 12 cm. or more in diam. with much-branched stems. Lvs up to 8 mm. long, 0.4–0.7 mm. wide, very ∞, closely imbricating for c. ⅔ length of stem, rigid, tips obtuse, margins almost glab., sheaths very slightly villous at the mouth. Infl. (1)–4–(5)-fld, overtopping lvs at maturity. Fls 2–2.5 mm. long; outer tepals membr. below, darker brown above but with a white membr. tip, inner with brown centre and membr. margins; all becoming darker, almost black as fr. matures. Stamens 6. Capsule slightly < tepals, light brown at the base, darker above. 2n = 12.

DIST.: Known only from the type locality, Old Man Range, Central Otago, from 1,500–1,800 m. altitude.

HYBRIDISM

Nordenskiöld (N.Z. J. Bot. 4, 1966, 185) reported that all indigenous members of the campestris-multiflora complex which she examined were diploid (2n = 12); she made artificial hybrids which were us. fertile in the F 1. The possible high frequency of hybrids among N.Z. Luzula is impeded to a large extent by the ecological separation of spp. and vars. Only 5 natural hybrids are recorded in Edgar (N.Z. J. Bot. 4, 1966, 183) : banksiana var. banksiana × picta var. picta; banksiana var. migrata × colensoi, × pumila; crinita var. petriana × leptophylla ( = L. wettsteinii Buch.  in Öst. bot. Z. 48, 1898, 213. Type: WELT, 12535, Upper Clinton Valley, Lake Te Anau, 1,500 ft, D. Petrie 1587/1; AK 3097 is also part of the original gathering); pumila × rufa var. rufa. To these may be added banksiana var. migrata × picta var. picta (CHR 159245), × picta var. pallida (CHR 129989, 132916, 132918 and 132939). Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot. 48, 1934, 16) listed several Luzula hybrids, but because of nomenclatural changes it is not possible to correlate their list with the hybrids given here.

The closely imbricating lvs and few-fld infls are the distinctive features of this cushion sp.

INCERTAE SEDIS

L. picta var. cheesemanii Buch. in Engl. Bot. Jb. 12, 1890, 147. "Planta pusilla, 2 usque 3 cm. tantum alta . . . In Wäldern: Neu-Seeland . . . Stephenson, 47". There is one sheet at K with a label "No. 47, Luzula picta A. Rich., W. Stephenson, New Zealand. 1843–4". The smallest plant on the whole sheet (which also bears a Colenso label) is 3 inches tall. No conclusion can be reached about its relationships. Buchenau used the epithet "cheesemanii" on two consecutive pages, the first at specific rank, the second for quite another plant at varietal rank.