Phyllachne colensoi (Hook.f.) Berggr.
Helophyllum colensoi Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 168.
Forstera clavigera Hook. f. Fl. N.Z. 1, 1853, 155 non Fl. Antarct. 1, 1844, 38, t. 28.
Type locality: Summit of Ruahine Range. Type: K, 1595 Colenso. Also in Tasmania (see Curtis in Pap. roy. Soc. Tasm. 1947, 31).
Cushions up to c. 10 cm. tall, often shorter and matlike. Lvs c. 4 mm. long, thick, coriac., ± glossy, dark-green, appressed, very closely imbricate, tapering from base c. 2 mm. wide to obtuse apex c. 0·5 mm. diam. Pore on back near apex. Bracts narrow-triangular, ± 2-toothed; hairs few, apical. Calyx-lobes about oblong, ciliolate at apex. Corolla-lobes white, spreading, ovate-oblong. Column slender, far-exserted, anthers us. purplish, subreniform. Capsule white, c. 2 mm. diam.; seeds up to 8.
DIST.: N., S., St. Higher montane to subalpine herbfield, fellfield, rocky places, from about lat. 39° southwards.
FL. 11-2. FT. 1-4.
Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 391) accepts P. haastii Bergg. in J. Bot., Lond. 9, 1880, 104 as a var. of P. colensoi : "Upper half of leaf narrower, semiterete, not thickened at tip." I have been unable to find any clear-cut points of difference. Colenso (T.N.Z.I. 26, 1894, 318) describes a small form under the name H. muscoides : "Lvs . . . linear, semi-terete, thick, 11/2 lines long, 1/25 in. broad, wider and flatter at base . . . Tongariro Mountain, Taupo; 1893. Mr. H. Hill. Obs. A species near to H. colensoi, Hook. f., but with very much smaller and differently-shaped leaves. All the flowers I have seen (nearly a dozen) were 6-lobed and regular."
