Plantago uniflora Hook.f.
P. triantha var. uniflora (Hook. f.) Pilger in Pflanzenr. 102, 1937, 120.
Type locality: "Top of Ruahine mountains". Type: K, Colenso.
Primary root short-lived. Stem unbranched, short or up to 5 cm. long, clothed with cop. long fine hairs and giving off adventitious roots from amongst old lf-bases over most of its length. Lvs rosulate, of firm texture, punctate, us. ± erect, lamina linear to lanceolate, 1-3 cm. × 1-7 mm., narrowed gradually into petiole of sts almost equal length, tapering above to narrow obtuse tip; margin entire to strongly toothed; glab. or with many-celled hairs mostly on petiole, base of blade and lower margins, us. upper half of lf glab., undersurface glab.; midrib only obvious vein. Scapes very short to maximum length of c. 8 cm., thinly pilose below, closely invested with short hairs immediately below spike even at fruiting. Spike 1-(2)-fld. Bract broad, rarely narrowed above, sheathing whole floret, c. 1·5 mm. long, membr. with low indefinite keel, obtuse to subacute, glab.; sepals 2-2.5 mm. long, ± oblong, obtuse, keel low and narrow, glab. Corolla-tube ± ═ lobes; lobes 1·5-2 × 0.7 mm., narrowly triangular; anthers c. 1 mm. long, acute-tipped; ovules perhaps typically 8, in 2 tiers of 4, but sts more. Capsule 2-4 mm. long, rounded, seeds irregularly angular.
DIST.: N. Volcanic Plateau, Ruahine and Tararua Ranges, Mt. Egmont; S. Northwest Nelson and wet mountains of main divide; St. Table Hill (L. M. Cranwell) and Lords River (J. F. Findlay). Mountain bogs but on sea coast in St.
HYBRIDISM
Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 43) list, without comment, the hybrids P. brownii × lanigera and P. brownii × spathulata. Intermediates between the first two are certainly not uncommon but no experimental work has been reported.
FL.- FT. 12-2.
