Flora of New Zealand Series

Perennial rosette herb. Lvs spathulate or cuneately narrowed to winged petiole and elliptic-oblong to obovate, usually with (3)-5-9 pairs of round teeth or lobes (often lyrate-pinnatifid), sometimes a few lvs entire, obtuse, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely to moderately clothed in short-stalked glandular hairs on both surfaces or just on margin, 10-30-(45) × 4-10-(15) mm. Peduncle usually naked, sometimes with 1 scale-like lf, sparsely to moderately clothed in glandular hairs at least near capitulum, 3-11 cm long and 0.8-1.2 mm diam. at flowering, up to 15-(18) cm long at fruiting. Involucral bracts elliptic-oblong to spathulate, obtuse and fimbriate at apex, glandular at least at base, 3.5-6 mm long. Rays numerous, white, 6-10-(12) mm long. Disc yellow. Achenes obovoid, compressed, eglandular, 2-3 mm long; pappus of few bristles 0.1-0.3 mm long.

S.: throughout.

Endemic.

Tussock grassland, herbfield, forest margins, cliffs, rocky places, riverbeds, sea level to 2000 m.

FL (Aug)-Nov-Mar-(May).

Allan (1961) accepted 2 vars; var. sinclairii in the North and South Is and var. pinnata (Hook. f.) Allan in the South and Stewart Is. Although the sp. varies considerably in lf dissection there are no clearly defined forms that warrant infraspecific status. Davis (op. cit.) did not recognise infraspecific taxa within B. sinclairii. I have seen no material of B. sinclairii from the North Id or Stewart Id; records for these areas are probably based on misidentification of B. radicata. Some Otago material appears intermediate between B. sinclairii and B. longiscapa - the limits of these 2 spp. need further investigation. B. sinclairii is clearly distinguished from the other common sp., B. radicata, by the strongly compressed, eglandular achenes.