Flora of New Zealand Series

C. billardieri Fenzl var. alpinus Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 27, 1895, 356.

C. crassifolius Hook. f. var. alpinus (Kirk) Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 425.

Type locality: ? Spenser Mountains. Type: W, T. Kirk. Endemic?

Lf blade 15-40 mm. long gradually tapering into short acicular tip. Peduncles mostly longer than lvs, occ. 10 cm. long, often ∞ . Fls broad, sepals (4)-5-(7) mm. long, broad-lanceolate, tapering gradually to short or very short apicula.

DIST.: N. Mt. Hikurangi, Kaimanawa, Ruahine, and Tararua Ranges. S. East side of main divide. A., C., M. Moist rocks and stream banks, sealevel to 1500 m.

FL. 12-1. FT. 1-4.

N.Z. specimens matching the description and figures of Spergula apetala Labill. were sent to P for comparison with the type; three were from S., one from C. They were reported to be "entous points identiques a celui de Labillardière dont l'étiquette est ainsi libellée: The King, N. Holl., Spergula apetala (de la main de Labillardière?)" and they were judged to belong to Labillardière's sp., as were also specimens in P ex Herb. Hook. coll. R. C. Gunn No. 30 and 15, Herb. Tasmania. Tasmanian plants (Hillside near Hobart Town, S. C. Hannaford, Nov. 1870), submitted at the same time for comment, had lvs much more rigid and longer pointed, though they resembled N.Z. plants in the sepals tapering to acicular tips and subequal to the capsule; they were considered to be distinct. Minute hairs on If margins of Hannaford's and some other Tasmanian specimens have not been matched in any N.Z. plant.

Vegetatively, at least in N.Z., specimens here attributed to C. apetalus and C. affinis are often indistinguishable, although they differ constantly in shape and relative size of sepals. C. affinis has the more restricted distribution here, mostly in high rainfall areas. These two spp. were for a long time included under C. billardieri Fenzl (Ann. Wien Mus. 1, 1836, 49), a name which was nomenclaturally superfluous when published, since both Sagina crassifolia D'Urv. and Spergula apetala Labill. were quoted as synonyms.

Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 424) following a suggestion of Skottsberg (Plant World 18, 1925, 133) used the name C. crassifolius for grassy-lvd N.Z. plants, describing If tips as acute or acicular and sepals as acute or acuminate; his specimens show that he did not differentiate the obtuse-sepalled C. affinis of the Tararua Mts. Berggren's "Killy's Range" specimen, determined by Skottsberg as C. crassifolius, has broad obtuse sepals like the Falkland Is plants, and it may have been on this specimen in part that Skottsberg reported C. crassifolius from N.Z.

N.Z. specimens placed on floral characters in C. apetalus show a range of If form and further subdivision may be required. Grown under rather uniform conditions by W. B. Brockie some make deep soft cushions with erect lvs while others, e.g. from Cape Foulwind, maintain rather distinct rosettes of broad recurved lvs. Specimens from A. and C. are often small and sts have sepals shorter than capsule lobes. Var. alpinus differs only, but rather constantly, in greater size of lvs, peduncles and fls, and us. grows in damp and sheltered places. H. Hamilton's specimens from M. (W, No. 1537, labelled var. alpinus by Petrie, and A, No. 4059) have the large fls of var. alpinus; capsules are immature, peduncles 1-2 cm. long, lvs 2-3 cm.