Flora of New Zealand Series

A. macrantha Col. in T.N.Z.I. 23, 1891, 383.

A. sanguisorbae Vahl subsp. novae-zelandiae (Kirk) Bitter in Bibl. bot., Stuttgart 74, 1911, 263.

Type locality: Auckland Isthmus, Kirk, 1871.

Main stems stout, woody, creeping and rooting, up to 1m. long; branches ascending, stout, c. 5-10 cm. long, pilose. Lvs 5-10 cm. or more long, petioles silky-pilose, lflts 11-15. Stipules obliquely lanceolate, c. 6-8 mm. long, 3-4-fid. Upper lflts 12-15 mm. long, elliptic to obovate-oblong, subsessile, subserrate-crenate, vivid dark green and glab. above, pale below and pilose on veins; terminal lflt on petiolule c. 3 mm. long. Scapes c. 10 cm. long, stout, with or without one or more pairs of bracts. Heads, including spines, c. 3·5 cm. diam. sts smaller; bractlets linear, c. 4 mm. long. Cupules obconic, tetragonous, pilose, c. 3-4 mm. long. Spines c. 1 cm. long, occ. shorter, dark purple. Sepals lanceolate to broad-lanceolate, ± pilose below. Stamens 2, anthers white, stigma plumose.

DIST.: N., S., St. Lowland to lower montane tussock-grassland and open places throughout.

Bitter, loc. cit. 265, 267, distinguishes (a) var. viridissima : lflts subserrate-crenate, vivid dark green above, paler green below; (b) var. subtusglaucescens : less vivid green above, ashy glaucous below. Colenso, loc. cit. 383, gives for his A. macrantha "anthers bright yellow": type locality "open plains, Tahoraiti, south of Dannevirke". He says: "A species remarkable for the dark-green colour of its leaves and large petals."