Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: "Mountains of Nelson 3000-5000 feet alt. Collected by Mr. H.H. Travers". Type: There is a specimen collected by Travers in W, and a specimen in K, "from rocky gorge between valleys of Wai-au and Clarence".

Laxly branched shrub up to 1 m. tall; branchlets tomentose when young. Lvs rather close-set; lamina ± 2-6 × 1-2 cm., subcoriac., elliptic to lanceolate-oblong, acute, narrowed to petiole up to 4 cm. long, becoming nearly glab. above, clad in dense white tomentum below, distantly and obscurely crenate-sinuate to entire, midrib evident. Capitula loosely paniculately arranged on slender bracted branchlets; ultimate branchlets 3-5 cm. long. Capitula up to 2 cm. diam.; phyll. linear-oblong, obtuse to subacute, tomentose on back, inner with scarious margins. Ray-florets 10-15, up to c. 8 mm. long, spreading, yellow. Achenes linear-oblong, grooved, sparsely pubescent, c. 2 mm. long; pappus-hairs up to 5 mm. long, slender, barbellate.

DIST.: S. Nelson: Mount Arthur, Mount Owen, Motueka Hills, Spenser Range, Discovery Peaks, Fowler's Pass; Marlborough: Mount Rintoul, St. Arnaud Range, Wairau Gorge.

FL. 12-2. FT. 1-2.

Wall (Rec. Canterbury Mus. 4, 1935, 113) places here a specimen in the Armstrong Herbarium, collected at Barefell Pass, Upper Awatere. Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 347) states: "The name is singularly inappropriate; it was originally written 'laxiflorus', but assumed its present form through a typographic error".