Cotula maniototo Petrie
Type locality: "Maniototo Plains, Otago, in moist hollows covered by water in wet seasons". Type: W, D. Petrie. Recorded from North Id on western shore of Lake Wairarapa.
Stems and branches creeping, rooting; plants forming dense to open patches or mats; stems up to ± 10 cm., silky-hairy; branches and branchlets with close-set fascicles of very hairy lvs on petioles dilated and sheathing at base. Lamina membr., narrow-oblong, costa slender; sheathing base c. 1 mm. long; pinnate to pinnatisect, densely clad in slender silky hairs; pinnae ± 5 subopp. pairs, linear-subulate, to 1·5 mm. long. Scape rather stout, nude, 2-3 mm. long. Capitula 2.5-4 mm. diam.; receptacle conical. Phyll. in c. 2 series, broad-oblong to obovate, obtuse, ± scarious, erose, silky-hairy on outer surface. ♀ in 1 series, corolla almost filiform, 2-lipped. ♂ distinctly larger than ♀; corolla funnelform, tube long, 4-5-toothed. Achenes cylindric, turgid, glab., hardly winged.
DIST.: S. Lowland to montane grassland from upper Awatere to Lake Te Anau.
The range of this and other grassland spp. has probably been extended by sheep-carriage.
