Flora of New Zealand Series

"Petioles dotted with spreading hairs. Blade rounded, broader than long, with 5-7 openly divided segments and the sinus rather wide, yellowish brown above, mottled with pale yellow, sparingly strigose, paler beneath and almost pubescent; segments with 3-5 rounded lobes or the outermost lobes subacute; peduncles and pedicels sparingly pilose. Flowers white; calyx with long hairs. Carpels dotted with minute hairs. Seeds striated. Habitat: Moist shaded valleys and bush margins . . .The variety was first shown to us by Mr. W. B. Brockie, and with him we collected it on the Port Hills and in the tributary valleys of the Hope River, near Hanmer."

The type specimen (BD 62979, Port Hills, Christchurch, G. Simpson) is c. 25 cm. diam., with much-branched, wiry stems. Lvs on subfiliform petioles up to ± 4 cm. long; lamina 6-10 × 10-20 mm., 5-7-lobed to ± halfway, again irregularly bluntly to subacutely toothed. Sepals purple-margined. The lamina colours noted by the authors not clearly shown.

Habitat conditions influence the form taken; plants growing in tall grass or near other support may be semilianoid with stems up to 6 dm. long.