Celmisia argentea Kirk
C. sessiliflora var. minor Petrie in T.N.Z.I. 15, 1883, 359.
Type locality: "Swampy ground on the summit of Maungatua". Type: W, D. Petrie.
Densely branched subshrub up to 2 dm. tall, us. rather shorter; branches ascending, stout, clad in lf-remains, up to c. 15 cm. long, woody; branchlets very close-set, ± 5 cm. long, erect or ascending. Lvs ∞, very densely imbricate, ascending; plant forming small cushions or sts mats up to ± 2 dm. diam. Lamina ± 6-12 × 0·5-1·5 mm., coriac., linear-subulate, clad on both surfaces in greyish white appressed tomentum, concavo-convex; apex subacute to acute, sts subcucullate. Sheath ± = lamina, rather broader, pale, membr., clad in long silky hairs on margins and back, becoming glab. or nearly so. Capitula sessile or nearly so, terminal, sunk among apical lvs, ± 6-12 mm. diam.; phyll. linear-subulate, almost scarious, pale except at dark tip, up to c. 10 mm. long, glab. except for a few hairs at tip, midvein distinct. Ray-florets 8-10 mm. long, tube very slender, limb about lanceolate, 3-4-toothed, veins evident. Disk-florets c. 7 mm. long, very narrow-funnelform, teeth minute, triangular. Achenes c. 3 mm. long, narrow-cyclindric, subcompressed, ribs clad in very short ascending hairs. Pappus-hairs up to 6 mm. long, white, slender, very finely barbellate.
DIST.: S., St. Montane to subalpine damp grassland and boggy places from Garvie Mountains southwards.
Simpson and Thomson (T.R.S.N.Z. 72, 1942, 35) describe their C. clavata as "A semi-woody, branching plant to 10 cm. high, forming loose patches 10-30 cm. diam.; branches clothed with the remains of old leaves, rebranching closely at the tips; branchlets 3 cm. long, 1 cm. diam. with the leaves on, clavate, rounded at the tips, most densely leafy. Leaves linear, 6 mm. long, less than 1 mm. broad, erect, rigid, and closely imbricating, irregularly thickened and ridged on both sides, suddenly and bluntly pointed, silvery by a fine silky tomentum; base membranous, purplish, rather longer and broader than the blade, more or less woolly tomentose. Heads 1·5 cm. diam., terminal, solitary, sunken amongst the uppermost leaves, involucral bracts ± 25, about equal, linear lanceolate, membranous, silky at the tips. Ray-florets few. Achenes silky, Habitat: Peat bogs on the mountains of Stewart Island. Type specimen from Table Hill, Stewart Island, in the Herbarium, Plant Research Bureau, Wellington. C. clavata, probably a Stewart Island endemic, has been variously recorded as C. sessiliflora or C. argentea, but its semi-woody character, its densely leafy clavate branches, and its erect, rigid, closely imbricating leaves, are very distinct and not to be confused with those of any other species."
The type (BD 50051, Table Hill, moist peat, G. Simpson) consists of a woody densely branched piece. The branches are ± 4 cm. long, close-set, some with short branchlets. The living lvs give a subclavate appearance to the apical portion of the branchlets. Lamina c. 5-7 × 1 mm., with a median blunt ridge on both surfaces, linear, slightly broadened towards apex and then suddenly narrowed to obtuse tip; both surfaces white with very dense closely appressed tomentum. Sheath pale brown, sts slightly purplish near apex, c. 6-8 × 1 mm., ± floccose, with dense tuft at junction with lamina. The specimen is barren, as are the few other specimens I have seen. Further study of fertile specimens is much to be desired.
