Flora of New Zealand Series

Plants erect, caespitose. Leaves (and underleaves) cupped, or even hemispherical, with strongly incurved lobes; disc to 10 cells high, typically with a lateral spur on each side, arising from the upper part of disc or lower sector of lobe (reduced to lacking in some leaves); abaxial spurs not or rarely present.

Distribution and Ecology : Endemic and known at present from only two localities in Otago: Swampy Summit, northwest of Dunedin (Child H1924, F), and Ajax Hill, Catlins River area (Child H5508, F), at elevations of 455–610 m. The plant occurs in open boggy ground, with Sphagnum cristatum, Riccardia cochleata, Riccardia sp., Kurzia tenax and Verdoornia succulenta, and at the Ajax Hill locality, with K. helophila.

Comments : This expression resembles Kurzia helophila in the caespitose habit and irregular branching, the branches erect and overtopping the main axis, as well as in the concave, shallowly divided leaves with attenuate, incurved lobes. The typical phase differs in the abaxially armed leaves, with more long-tapered, lanceolate leaf lobes. In the “concava” phase the lobes end in a single cell, scarcely elongated (or in 2 cells side-by-side) vs. in a uniseriate row of (2)3–4 cells in the typical phase. In the “concava” phase the leaves, examined dorsally, appear slightly incubously inserted and the leaves somewhat postically deflexed vs. leaves transversely inserted and oriented in the typical phase.