Flora of New Zealand Series

Psychrophyton eximium Beauverd loc. cit. 1910, 230, f. 2.

Haastia greenii Hook. f. in Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 296.

Type locality: Ribbonwood Range. Type: K, "Ribband Wood Range, 5500', Sinclair and Haast, 252".

Stock very stout, woody; branches woody below, very densely compacted, forming rounded cushions up to 1 m. or more diam., up to 5 dm. or more tall. Lvs densely imbricate, 3-4 × up to 1·5 mm., 1-nerved, obovate- to oblong-spathulate to narrow-oblong, rounded at apex; apical portion on both surfaces with dense brush of long straight hairs exceeding and obscuring outline of lamina; ventral surface glab. below; dorsal surface clad in ascending straight hairs. Capitula c. 3 mm. diam. Inner phyll. linear, 3-4 mm. long, scarious on margins, pilose in upper portion, tips not white, not radiating. Florets 10-15 or more. Achenes hardly 1 mm. long, clad in long silky hairs; pappus-hairs rigid.

DIST.: S. Subalpine to alpine rocky ground and fellfield from lat. 41° to 45° 30'.

The forms of this sp. have not been sufficiently studied for decisive treatment. The 3 forms discussed below remain of uncertain status.

R. brownii was provisionally described by Kirk, Stud. Fl. 1899, 307, from material forwarded from K, labelled as collected by J. D. Enys and received in November 1881. No locality is given. Kirk describes the lvs as "linear-oblong . . . abruptly narrowed just below the apex and subacute." The tomentum is exactly that of typical R. eximia and lf-apex varies from subacute to broadly rounded as in eximia. The subacute lvs are few. Type: Kirk's material is in BD.

R. eximia var. lata Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 304. This was described by Kirk from material forwarded from K, labelled "Dr. Haast, from specimen in case". Kirk (loc. cit. 304) states that the specimen was collected by Enys. He distinguishes the var. by: "leaves less densely imbricate . . . 1/12 in. long . . . broadly oblong . . . rounded at the top . . . Hairs long, but less uneven than in the type." The tomentum is that of eximia and the lvs as densely imbricate but slightly looser at the apex. The only difference is that the lvs are up to 1·5 mm. wide and some are slightly truncate at the tips. Type: Kirk's material is in BD.

Beauverd (loc. cit. 1910, 231, f. 12) figures a specimen collected by Berggren on Mount Torlesse with narrow-oblong lvs, rounded at apex, c. 5 mm. long, with more distinct phyll. than in the type.