Flora of New Zealand Series

Capitula large, solitary. Scapes slender, fistular, bearing 1-5 linear bracts, densely to sparsely clad in soft white tomentum, densely to sparsely dotted with dark slender glandular hairs. Phyll. in c. 4 series, imbricate, membr. to scarious; outermost short, tomentose on back; innermost long, narrowly ovate-oblong; all ± clad in dark slender glandular hairs, and somewhat narrowed to the base and below the rounded and fimbrillate scarious dark tips. Receptacle shallowly concave, alveolate. Florets c. 30, ligulate; limb pale yellow, about ═ slender claw in length, rather deeply 5-fid. Fertile achenes few, glab., strongly compressed, broad, bluntly rounded at tips, gradually narrowed to base, crowned by minute asperities, dark brown, with 4-5 longitudinal primary ribs and 4-5 weaker secondary ones, ± strongly transversely wrinkled towards base, walls coriac. Sterile achenes ∞, narrow-sub-cylindric, pale, finely ribbed, walls weak. Style-arms long, densely furnished with minute processes, finely coiled. Anthers long, cells obtuse at base. Pappus-hairs cop., slender, soft, white, connate at very base, minutely barbellate in upper half. Scapigerous herbs with stout taproot, rosulate lvs and cop. white latex. Type and only known sp.: K. novae-zelandiae.

Named in honour of T. Kirk, author of The Students' Flora of New Zealand, 1899. Pending detailed study in the field I describe three forms. Solander in his Primitiae described form (a) as Hieracium fragile. Hooker had all three forms before him when he drew up his composite description under Crepis (Handbk N.Z.Fl. 1864, 165). He remarks, "not well according with any described genus". In Bentham and Hooker's Gen.Pl. it is placed under Sonchus, probably on account of the characters of the fertile achenes. Stebbins (Babcock The Genus Crepis 1947, 386), after an examination of the K Specimens, suggested including it in Launaea, which it approaches in carpological characters.