Flora of New Zealand Series

Distribution and Ecology : Endemic to New Zealand: Auckland Islands, South Island (540–1050 m), North Island (60–625 m). Known from Southland, Westland, Western Nelson, Volcanic Plateau, Gisborne, Auckland and Northland EPs.

In the South Island the variety is known from few, scattered localities. At Waikaia State Forest (Southland, 260 m) it occurs on bryophyte-covered banks, admixed with Lepidozia concinna, in a mature Nothofagus fusca – N. menziesii forest. In the Haast Pass area (Westland) on steep, humid but never wet, shaded, vertical, south-facing cliffs in a N. menziesii forest with Plagiochila caducifolia, Gymnomitrion cuspidatum, Diplophyllum domesticum and Radula sp. Also on clayey vertical banks of a large sinkhole in a N. menziesii forest on Mt. Arthur (Mt. Arthur Hut Track, Kahurangi Natl. Park, 1050 m).

In the North Island known from Tongariro Natl. Park within a mixed broadleaf forest (with Nothofagus menziesii common); plants grew very loosely over soil on a vertical bank of the Mangawhero River. In the Kaimai Ra. it occurs at 60 m on boulders well above water level in a stream system with several pools and low waterfalls in a mixed broadleaf–podocarp forest, with Dacrydium cupressinum emergent over a canopy of Beilschmiedia tawa and occasional Weinmannia silvicola. In the Waipoua area the species occurred on a roadside bank under protective cover, with Blechnum, beneath an Agathis australis forest. Also known from the Lake Waikaremoana area.