Flora of New Zealand Series

Psychrophyton rubrum Beauverd loc. cit. 1910, 234.

Type locality: Mount Holdsworth, Tararua Range. Type: OM, Herb. Buchanan.

Stock hard, woody; branches woody at base, densely compacted, forming cushions up to 25 cm. diam. and 15 cm. tall. Lvs 2-4 × 1-1·5 mm., obovate-spathulate, rounded to truncate at tips. Apical portion of lf clad on both surfaces in long straight hairs exceeding lamina; lower portion glab. on both surfaces, 1-nerved. Capitula c. 3 mm. diam. Inner phyll. linear, obtuse, scarious on margins, tip white, short, radiating. Florets 10-15; corolla crimson to purplish. Achenes c. 2.5 mm. long, clad in long silky hairs; pappus-hairs c. 2.5 mm. long, rigid.

DIST.: Subalpine to alpine rocks. N.: Tararua Range. S.: Haupiri Range, Mount Arthur, Paparoa Range.

Exact distribution in South Id is unknown, certain non-flowering specimens from localities in N.W. Nelson appear to be in part this sp., in part hybrids between it and R. bryoides.