Flora of New Zealand Series

Type: W, D. Petrie.

"A minute shortly and loosely creeping glabrous plant giving off at intervals scattered few-leaved flowering-stems. Leaves few, very narrow linear, 8-12 mm. long, nerveless, expanded below into a striate sheath. Scapes solitary (rarely in twos), very slender, 5 mm. long when in flower, lengthening to 12 mm. in fruit; bracts 4-5, short, very narrow linear. Heads solitary, small, 1 mm. long, and broad; involucral scales 8-10, shortly oblong, obtuse or sometimes subacute, greenish at the middle, with broad hyaline margins, obscurely 3-nerved; flowers minute, 5-6, not exceeding the scales. Achenes narrow, spindle-shaped, distantly but not deeply ribbed, almost as long as the scales."

DIST.: "Wet peaty puddles in open lowland moor near the head of Paterson Inlet, Stewart Island."

The above description is that of Petrie. The type has obtuse to subacute lvs, and matches the description. B. C. Aston's Port Pegasus specimens agree rather closely. Under A. filiformis covers in herbaria are a rather diverse series of specimens, and further work is required. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 1004) remarks: "Very closely allied to A. linearis, and perhaps only a variety, but can be easily recognized by the much smaller size, more glabrous habit, narrower leaves with acute tips, smaller heads, and fewer florets." In some forms the lvs may be not > 2 mm. long.