Celmisia vernicosa
Type locality: Campbell Id. Type: K, near the sea, Dec. 1840, Hooker.
Herb with simple to branched stout woody stock, emitting lfy runners with or without offset rosettes at tips, apparently sts not rooting. Rosettes 4-10 cm. diam., us. flattened to substratum, with close-set, overlapping lvs densely radiately arranged. In one form the lvs are densely imbricate along a somewhat elongate stem, ascending. Lamina hard, stiff, coriac., glossy as if varnished, ± 2-5-(10) cm. × 2-4-(5) mm., not including recurved portion; glab. on both surfaces, midrib impressed above, prominent below and fused at apex to margins to form an obtuse to acute ± mucronate cucullate tip; margins thickened, strongly recurved, entire or obscurely toothed, sts ciliolate, slightly dilated at base. Sheath up to 10 × 6 mm., coriac., distinctly ribbed. Scape rigid, rather stout, ribbed, up to c. 10 cm. long, sts elongating to c. 25 cm. long; bracts us. ∞, coriac., ± linear-lanceolate, sheaths dark, conspicuous. Capitula ± 25-40 mm. diam.; phyll. up to c. 10 × 2 mm., narrow-lanceolate to linear-subulate to linear-oblong, thin, with sparse long slender hairs on margins and near apex. Ray-florets ∞, with short hairy tube, limb up to ± 15 mm. long, ligulate, 4-toothed and -nerved. Disk-florets us. purple, c. 5 mm. long, tube ± pilose, teeth spreading, ovate, acute, c. 2 mm. long. Achenes c. 3 mm. long, narrow-obconic, ribbed, ± compressed, densely clad in ascending white hairs. Pappus-hairs rather short and rigid, up to c. 5 mm. long, very densely barbellate with long hairs.
DIST.: A., C. From near sealevel upwards in grassland, herbfield and rocky places.
Rather amply represented in herbaria, but the specimens insufficiently annotated. Sorensen (D.S.I.R. Cape Exped. Ser. Bull. 7, 1951, 35) remarks: "Mountain plants do not reach the luxuriant growth of those on lower country. The former also show more colour variation of the ray-florets, these being often pale lilac to almost mauve." Dawbin (BD 76119) collected rosettes from a small population in rubble near Carnley Harbour bearing disk-florets of lemon colour.
