Gnaphalium trinerve G.Forst.
G. lyallii Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 137.
G. adhaerens Col. in T.N.Z.I. 17, 1885, 244.
Type locality: Dusky Sound. Type: K, Forster.
Main stems stout, woody, up to c. 1 cm. diam., with ∞ erect or ascending branches. Lvs sessile, 5-10 × 1-2 cm., oblanceolate, apiculate, membr., glab. above, with white appressed tomentum below; midrib and pair of lateral veins us. distinct above and below; upper lvs smaller, narrower. Infl. large, of ∞ capitula corymbosely arranged on tomentose branchlets bearing foliaceous bracts. Capitula up to 1·5 cm. diam.; phyll.∞, white, oblong, c. 6 mm. long, clawed at base. Receptacle c. 2 mm. diam., closely alveolate, slightly convex. Achenes narrow-oblong, < 1 mm. long, glab. or with few appressed hairs, slightly compressed. Pappus-hairs c. 15, very slender.
DIST.: N. S. Local in damp shaded places from lat. 39° 30' southward; more common in S., especially west of divide.
FL. 11-1. FT. 12-3.
Forster's description (Prodr. 1786, 55) is: "fruticosum, foliis sessilibus lanceolatis trinerviis subtus argenteis, panicula corymbosa terminali laxa." Richard (Essai Fl. N.Z. 1832, 239) had not seen specimens, but published Forster's much fuller mss. description, in which the lvs are given as "sesquipollicaria". The Forster specimen at K has lvs c. 4∙5 cm. × 7 mm., the 3 nerves prominent. It is clear that Forster was not dealing with the plant named G. trinerve by Hooker and subsequent authors. G. lyallii of Hooker is based on robust plants from "Massacre" (Golden) Bay, collected by Lyall.
G. adhaerens Col. was based on specimens collected on "Damp cliffy clayey sides of the River Mangatawhainui (a feeder of the River Manawatu) near Norsewood". The habit is thus described: "Plant a diffuse bushy perennial herb; main stems woody, as thick as a goose-quill, climbing, adhering closely by long lateral rootlets to perpendicular clayey cliffs."
