Flora of New Zealand Series

A. cunninghamii Hook. f. Fl. N.Z.  1,  1853,  259.

A. cunninghamii subsp. hookeriana Kirk in T.N.Z.I.  4,  1872,  244.

A. polyneuron Col. in T.N.Z.I.  14,  1882,  333.

A. subrigida Col. in T.N.Z.I.  19,  1887,  268  (pro parte). 

A. solandri subsp. hookerana (Kirk) L. B. Moore in N.Z. J. Bot.  4,  1966,  230.

Kowharawhara.

Type locality: Whangaroa. Type: K, R. Cunningham.

Robust tufted epiphyte, but also growing on ground. Lvs mostly 100–200 × 2–3.5 cm., drooping; just above sheath very narrow, keeled and tightly folded, covered in fine whitish felt; sheath broad, clad on both surfaces in white scales; lamina adaxially bright green, without obvious scales when mature; abaxially silvery with elongate pattern of scales when young, in age minutely dotted with white scale-bases; 3 subequal nerves us. recognizable on each side of midrib, but these well separated, at least in distal half of lf. Infl. drooping, most parts covered with ± appressed scales; peduncles 30–100 cm. × 4–8 mm.; panicle 15–40 cm. long; lower spathes long; racemes ∞, widespreading, more lax in male, all except the smallest spathes subtending sub-infls of 3–(5) racemes. Fls pedicellate and us. well spaced; per. yellowish, pinkish or (especially ♂) maroon, divided almost to base; tepals 2–4–(5) mm. long, spreading, tips lacking scales. Ovary 1-locular, green; style very short. Fr. c. 4–5 mm. diam., globose, translucent green to yellowish or dull brown, seated on dry membr. per. Seeds < 2 mm. long. diam. c. ½ length, terete and ± curved, smooth and shining, the funicular end carunculate. n = 35.

DIST.: N., S. Wetter lowland forest areas to south Westland.

Most commonly epiphytic but also found in large numbers growing terrestrially.

FL. 10–6. FT. 1–12.

A. cunninghamii Hook. f. is fully discussed by Skottsberg (1934) who placed the name in synonymy under A. solandri, without designating a lectotype or precise type locality for the former name (original localities: "Throughout the Northern Island, common, usually on limbs of trees, Cunningham, etc.").

A cunninghamii subsp. hookeriana Kirk, type locality Little Barrier Id, was also placed by Skottsberg in synonymy under A. solandri. Wheeler (1966) recognised 2 subspp. of A. solandri, comparing with Kirk's subsp. hookeriana those plants bearing small fls in autumn, followed by dark frs ripening a year later; the other subsp. was characterised by larger fls appearing in late spring and developing into yellow frs before the next winter. Moore (1966), in making the new combination A. solandri subsp. hookerana, questioned the taxonomic merit of the subsp. The spelling of the epithet was altered in accordance with the International Code.

A. polyneuron was evidently based on 2 specimens, male and female, which Colenso described in great detail. The descriptions fit A. solandri except that the male per. is said to be glab., and the ovary in the ♀ red, "like a red currant when fully ripe, and of the same colour". The habitat given is "In dense forests near the head of the river Manawatu, North Island; epiphytical on living trees, at no great height from the ground; 1880–1881; flowering in December". No specimens have been seen except a few fragments so labelled in Herb. Buchanan, and of these some racemes belong to A. solandri.

A. subrigida is not represented by any known specimen. The detailed description leaves no doubt that the panicle and seeds belonged to A. solandri, but the lf characters suggest Collospermum and Colenso comments that the sp. approaches his Astelia spicata which is now considered to belong in Collospermum. The habitat given is "High up in the upper forks of large forest trees, where the plant forms large dense masses; woods near Norsewood, County of Waipawa; 1886: W.C." Great quantities of barren plants had been examined at various seasons, before fls were found.

Commonly a clump of epiphytic asteliads includes both A. solandri and one or other sp. of Collospermum, and in herbaria lvs of one are frequently associated with infls of the other.