Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: Mt. Pisa, 1800 m. altitude. Type: A, 8334, D. Petrie.

Forming cushions similar to those of P. pulvinaris; branchlets 4-5 mm. diam. including lvs, rather soft, the lvs loosely imbricate, often overlapping for only c. 1/2 length. Lvs 3-4·5 × 1·5-2.5-(3) mm., linear- to obovate-spathulate, obtuse to broadly subacute, slightly concavo-convex, coriac. when young, soft and greyish when old and not at all glossy; upper part of outer surface sparsely clad in slender, lax, tangled hairs, hairs fewer on upper part of inner surface, commonly restricted to a small central patch, or absent; margins softly ciliate in lower part, cartilaginous towards apex with crowded stiffly appressed hairs and us. a tuft at tip. Bracts c. 3·5 mm. long, linear, very similar to calyx-lobes. Calyx 3-3·5 mm. long, coriac., divided c. ⅔ way into linear lobes densely hispid on margins, tip and outer surface for most of length. Corolla white, 4·5-5 mm. long, salverform; tube ± ═ calyx, lobes 1-1·5 mm. long, obtuse. Capsule c. 3 × 1·5 mm., ± hairy at apex at least when young.

DIST.: S. Otago.

Hitherto confused with P. thomsonii and known certainly only from the original collection, part of which was sent to Cheeseman as Myosotis which superficially it closely resembles. In Herb. Petrie (W) two sheets from Mt. Pisa contain P. myosotoides mixed with P. thomsonii, var. glabra and Myosotis pulvinaris. Scraps of P. myosotoides occur in mixed collections from other localities in Otago but there are no more reliable records.

Differs from P. thomsonii in kind and distribution of lf-hairs and also in broader, more obtuse, more loosely imbricated lvs which are dull and greyish rather than yellow and glossy when old.