Flora of New Zealand Series

Leptinella featherstonii F. Muell. Veg. Chath. Is 1864, 27, t. 5.

Type locality: "On damp rocks near the sea in one locality on the south-east side of Chatham Islands." Type: Nat. Herb. Vict., Melbourne?, Travers.

Robust herb, subwoody at base; stems decumbent, up to 3 dm. × 5 mm., ascending at tips; branches ∞, at first clad in soft pubescence. Lvs alt., bases persistent; lamina (15)-20-35-(50) × (6)-8-10-(12) mm., almost sessile; obovate- to oblong-cuneate or spathulate, 3-toothed to entire at apex; fleshy, margins ± cartilaginous; densely clad in fine soft pubescence above and below. Scapes axillary and terminal, densely glandular-hairy, 12-25 mm. long, stout, pilose; capitula (5)-8-10 mm. diam.; phyll. 10-15 in c. 2 series, outer ovate-lanceolate, inner broad-oblong, thinly hairy on outer surfaces. Florets yellow, eglandular; ♀ ∞, pedicellate, corolla minute, pale yellow, indistinctly toothed; ♂ ∞, tubular, 4-toothed. Achenes compressed obovoid-cylindric, slightly to densely glandular, strongly ribbed, 1-2 × 0·5 mm.

DIST.: Ch. Peaty ground near coast.

"The writer [Mueller] selected this plant, one of the most interesting of those of the Chatham-Islands, for bearing the name of the Honorable Dr. Featherstone, Government Superintendent at Wellington, New Zealand, as a mark of recognition of the favor shown by that able officer in introducing some years since a number of living plants from the Chatham-Islands into the Melbourne Botanic Garden."