Flora of New Zealand Series

Ligusticum (?) filifolium Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl 1864, 95.

Type locality: "Open rocky places, Dun Mountain 2400-4000 ft." Type: K, Monro 65.

Slender herb up to ± 3 dm. or more tall, from stout stock; stems grooved, stiff, slender, branched above. Lvs on slender petioles up to c. 2 dm. long, us. shorter; sheaths broad, membr., up to ± 2 cm., long. shortly obtusely liguled. Lamina (5)-10-(40) × 5-10 mm.; pinnae 3-6 pairs, spreading, ternately divided into filiform or very narrow-linear acute segs, us. apiculate, up to c. 4 cm. long. Umbels several to few, compound, on slender peduncles up to ± 8c m. long. Bracts foliaceous. Primary rays very slender, unequal, ± 2-5 cm. long; involucral bracts few, short, linear. Umbellules ± 5 mm. diam.; fls small. Fr. 8-9 mm. long, narrow-oblong in outline, compressed. Mericarps thin, 5-winged, lateral wings distinctly > dorsal.

DIST.: S. Montane to lower subalpine grassland, herbfield and rocky places to c. lat. 44º 30'; descends to near sealevel near Kaikoura.

FL. 11-1. FT 1-2.

Often passes through a stage in which the pinnae are up to 15 × 4 mm., oblong to narrowly obovate-oblong, apiculate. Bracts with similar but narrower segs. It may flower and fruit in this stage as perhaps in A. patula (Kirk) Cheesem.  Man. N.Z. Fl.1925,679.

Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 203) describes his Ligusticum patulum thus: "Stems very slender, sparingly branched, inclined, spreading, 6 in.-12 in. high or more. Radical leaves 3 in.-6in. long or more pinnate or 2-pinnate or pinnatifid; leaflets in 6-7 distant pairs, petioled, laxly divided into very narrow-linear toothed or tridentate acute lobes, rarely entire. Rhachis very slender, scarcely jointed. Cauline leaves smaller, with narrower segments. Umbels simple, on very slender axillary or terminal peduncles, 6-10-flowered. Involucral bracts linear-ovate, shorter than the longest pedicels. Pedicels unequal. Calyx-teeth extremely minute, acute. Petals inflexed at the tips. Fruit linear-oblong. Styles very slender. SOUTH Island: Canterbury: on limestone. Burke's Pass, J. B. Armstrong! Otago, Buchanan! The grey tint of the leaves, spreading stems, and few-flowered umbels render this species easily recognized. I have only seen two specimens, both in poor condition." The W sheet (Dom. Mus. 1122) has Kirk's label "Burkes Pass. Co. Geraldine. J.B. Armstrong Dec. 1880, on limestone cliffs". There is one complete If and three fragments, one bearing an umbel with immature fr. Peduncle slender, c. 2 cm. long, with lanceolate-acuminate bract c. 5 mm. long. Frs 6, up to 3 mm. long; ribs blunt, distinct; styles very slender, diverging. The If has a lamina 7 × 3 cm.; pinnae 5 pairs, distant, up to ± 15 × 10 mm., pinnately divided into linear, sharply toothed, decurrent lobes. Petiole slender, c. 3 mm. long; sheath c. 5 mm. long; ligule short, rounded.

Wall (Rec. Canterbury Mus. 4, 1935, 114) remarks that in the Armstrong herbarium (CM): "There is one sheet of specimens in good condition. The label reads "Ligusticum patulum, Kirk. Limestone rocks, Albury, Cant. 1876', with the initials J.B.A. subsequently corrected to J. F.A. The specimen is obviously Anisotome filifolia, and so perfectly matches other specimens of that species . . . that no room for doubt remains". Wall's conclusion is true of the Albury specimen, but not of the Burke's Pass one. Further search in this latter area is desirable.