Flora of New Zealand Series

Brachyglottis rani A. Cunn. in Ann. nat. Hist. 2, 1839, 132.

Eurybia cunninghamii Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 117, t. 30.

O. cunninghamii Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 126.

Type locality: "Banks of rivers, Bay of Islands". Type: K, R. Cunningham 415.

Shrub or tree up to 7 m. tall; branchlets, infl.-branchlets, petioles and lvs below clad in dense soft white to buff tomentum. Lvs ± 5-15 × 5 cm. including stout petiole up to 4 cm. long; coriac., broad elliptic-ovate to oblong, acute, repand, irregularly and rather distantly coarsely dentate. Capitula ∞, up to 1 cm. diam., in large panicles; florets 12-24 per capitulum; ray-florets ∞, broad, white to yellowish; phyll. woolly-pilose on back, subacute, ovate-lanceolate, in several series. Achenes 1-2 mm. long, glab. or nearly so except at tips, compressed, angled; pappus-hairs subequal, up to 4 mm. long.

DIST .: N., S. Lowland forests and forest margins from near North Cape to lat. 42°. Heketara.

FL. 8-11. FT. 11-1.

A somewhat polymorphic sp., the status of the different forms not well understood.

Var. colorata (Col.) Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 269. O. colorata Col. in T.N.Z.I. 12, 1880, 362. Lvs up to 14 × 6 cm. including petiole 2.5 cm. long, broad-lanceolate. Phyll. glab. or nearly so, smaller, florets fewer. Dist .: N., S. From Manawatu River to a little south of Nelson. Type locality: "Forty-mile Bush", head of R. Manawatu. Type: W, W. Colenso.

Colenso remarks: " It has been named colorata from the four colours of its leaves and petioles; the upper side of the leaf, when denuded of its hoary hairs, is a peculiar light green, below the blade is whitish with a slight tinge of ochre or light brown, while the midrib and larger veins are light reddish-brown, and the petioles and branchlets are a still darker shade of rich red-brown. All this is very constant."

Var. minuta Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 270. " A low shrub. Branchlets slender. Leaves 1 in.-2 in. long, 3/4 in.-1 in. broad, elliptic-oblong; petioles slender. Panicles much branched and pedicels slender. Heads smaller; involucral bracts short, almost subulate, red, sparingly pubescent but never villous. Achene pubescent." Kirk indicates no localities. The var. is not taken up by Cheeseman.