Aciphylla leighii Allan
Type locality: Mount Milne at c. 1980 m. Type: BD 19011, D. Leigh.
Stock stout, multicipital, producing approximate rosettes c. 7 cm. diam.; taproot stout, deeply descending. Lvs c. 5 cm. long, spreading, 3-foliolate (including the diverging stipules); sheaths ± 3·5 cm. long, white with hyaline margins, thickening above and curving outwards, striate, narrowing upwards to c. 6 mm. from base 10 mm. wide, milky juice cop. Lamina c. 1·6 cm. × 4 mm., linear-oblong, dark green, shallowly canaliculate; margins cartilaginous, apex blunt to retuse (but with short mucro). Male plants with striate stems up to c. 5 cm. long, surrounded by paniculately arranged compound umbels forming an infl. ± 4-6 cm. diam. Primary rays 3-4, rather stout, unequal, up to c. 4 cm. long, invested by general involucre of lflike bracts ± 2 cm. long. Secondary umbels up to 2-2.5 cm. diam., with narrow-linear acicular bracteoles c. 10 mm. long (occ. with trifoliolate lamina); rays 7-10, up to c. 6 mm. long. Tertiary umbels crowded, 5-6 mm. long; bracteoles filiform. Sepals greenish, incurved, linear, acute, enlarging after petal-fall to 2 mm. long, with short claw. Stamens exserted at anthesis; petals minute, white. Female plants not seen.
Dist .: S. Darran Range .
The description is based on the type specimen, of which the vegetative parts have been mislaid, and on a few plants grown in the scree garden of the late J.S. Thomson in Dunedin. Leigh attached a note: "Growing on stabilized scree terraces and forming circular patches sometimes six feet in diameter, this Aciphylla provided a unique appearance. The habitat is very exposed, being directly opposite the massive ice-face of Mount Tutoko, and above a branch of the Madeline Ice Plateau." It is possibly a reduced form of A. dobsonii.
