Flora of New Zealand Series

Ligusticum piliferum Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 96.

Type locality: "Hurunui Mountains alt. 4500-6000 ft." Type: K, Travers, 1864.

Very robust, up to ± 6 dm. tall with very stout stock up to c. 5 cm. diam.; subalpine forms sts reduced to c. 15 cm. tall. Lvs on stout petioles up to ± 10 cm. long; sheaths narrow, membr., up to c. 4 cm. long. Lamina pinnate (5)-10-20-(30) × (3)-5-10 cm., us. narrow-oblong in outline. Pinnae 5-10-(12) pairs, sessile, coriac., dark green to glaucous above, paler below, close-set, often overlapping, to rather distant; about deltoid in outline; coarsely toothed to 2-3-lobed to pinnatifid or pinnatisect (on different plants); segs 1-2 cm. × 4-5 mm., ovate-oblong to linear-lanceolate; hair-processes up to c. 4 mm. long or sts reduced to acicles. Bracts with open sheaths ± 4 cm. long, narrowed to foliaceous lamina up to c. 5 cm. long. Umbels compound, upper ones us. approximate, (3)-4-5-(10) cm. diam., on stout peduncles 4-8 cm. long; bracts foliaceous. Primary rays 15-20, very stout, grooved, unequal, up to c. 4 cm. long; involucral bracts linear to lanceolate-oblong, up to 2.5 cm. long. Secondary rays short, overtopped by broad hair-tipped involucral bracts ± 1 cm. long. Fls. c. 5 mm. diam.; calyx-lobes minute, blunt; petals white, ovate-oblong, us. only slightly incurved, ± 2.5 mm. long. Fr. ovate-oblong in outline, 3-4-(5) 3 mm.; mericarps us. 3-winged; styles slender, ± 1·5 mm. long.

DIST.: S. Montane to lower subalpine rocky places, occ. in grassland and herbfield, from c. lat. 41º southwards.

FL. 11-3. FT. 1-4.

Hooker (loc. cit.) distinguishes two vars: "(. Leaflets very broad coriaceous, 3-lobed to the base or ternate, closely imbricating." This includes the type of the sp. "β. Leaflets longer, pinnatifidly cut into narrower lobes." This was based on specimens from "Great Clyde glacier, 3800-4000 ft., Mount Darwin and Lake Tekapo, Haast." Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 204) describes his Ligusticum piliferum var. pinnatifidum thus: "Leaves green, less coriaceous, longer, pinnatifidly divided into crowded narrow-linear bristle-pointed segments." He gives no localities; I find in his herbarium at W no specimen labelled var. pinnatifidum, but a sheet labelled "Ligusticum piliferum Hook. f. ß. Ashburton Mountains. T.H. Potts" fits his description reasonably well. Kirk adds: "In some small-leaved specimens the segments are almost capillary, 1/8 in.1/4 in. long, shorter than the hair-like points." I have not seen specimens corresponding to this description.

Cheesemen (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 679) says: "A very distinct species, not closely allied to any other. Its stout fleshy stems, bold foliage, and large umbels of white flowers make it a very conspicuous and showy plant." But the group of plants at present included under the name A. pilifera shows a much greater polymorphy than this seems to imply. The range of size and pinna-form is remarkable. The whole complex needs intensive study, including the presence of true-breeding vars, habitat-modifications and the possibility of hybridism. Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 35) record the group A. haastii × pilifera, remarking, "Included in this group is A. pilifera var. pinnatifida Kirk. The cross is not common, nor is great diversity shown in the hybrids." More adequate study is required to confirm this. In herbaria specimens of Aciphylla dissecta and A. multisecta and possible hybrids are sts found in Anisotome pilifera folders.

Fig. 19. ANISOTOME PILIFERA. Pairs of pinnae. A, Hurunui Mts.; B, near Franz Josef Glacier; C, Arthur Pass; D, Mt. Cook; E, Arthur Pass; F, Mt. Patrick, N.W. Nelson; G, Kelly*apos*s Hill; H, Rangitaipo, Otira Gorge; I, Mt. Peel, Nelson; J. Lake Ohau; K, Mt. Peel. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X11]