Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: "Otago, lake district, in rocky alpine places, alt. 6000 ft." Type: K, Hector and Buchanan; plant without scapes in W. Also recorded from New Guinea, Murray Pass, Wharton Range, in swampy ground at 2840 m. altitude Brass n. 4646 (Pilger, loc. cit. 120).

Primary root short-lived. Stem short, unbranched, clothed with cop. long fine hairs, adventitious roots ∞ from amongst old lf-bases. Lvs rosulate, firm-textured, us. forming a close flat mat; lamina up to 20 × 7 mm., about rhomboid, tapering to short broad petiole, tip obtuse, margin entire or with inconspicuous teeth; hairs long and crowded, covering whole upper surface of young lf but wearing from unprotected tip with age, undersurface glab. or with scattered hairs; veins not evident except midrib. Scape very short to exceeding lvs, covered with close crisped hairs. Spike (1)-2-4-(6)-fld. Bracts < 2 mm. long, broad at base, narrowed above, tip subacute, glab. but including tuft of hairs, keel raised but ill-defined; sepals 2-3 mm. long, oblong, obtuse to subacute, glab., keel narrow and distinct, almost excurrent. Corolla-tube short, lobes narrow, acute, 1·5 × 0·5 mm.; anthers up to 1 mm. long; ovules up to 12; capsule up to 3 mm. long, the transverse split much below sepal-tips; seeds squarish, angular.

DIST.: N. Ruahine and Tararua Ranges. S. Northwest Nelson and east side of main divide. Mountain herbfield, especially rocky places.

FL.- FT. 12-2.

Var. petriei Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 572. "Larger, leaves often 2 in. long, thinner, upper surface sparingly pilose with jointed hairs, glabrous or nearly so beneath, margins ciliate. Scapes longer, usually exceeding the leaves. Perhaps a distinct species. Mount Kyeburn, alt. 3500 ft., Petrie". Type: A, 8666, D. Petrie.

In W 5 sheets are labelled var. petriei, all Petrie collections from Mt. Kyeburn. Plants on one sheet are all P. lanigera, those on another all P. uniflora (a rather broad-lvd hairy form) but most of those on the other 3 sheets agree with the type of var. petriei, as do some from Mt. Torlesse Range (W 2983) and from Mons Sex Millia (W 2322). Common characters are: Stems stout with ∞ adventitious roots and many hairs; lvs are rather membr., laminae 15-30 × 6-12 mm., elliptic, narrowing to a longish broad petiole; tips obtuse, not narrowly tapered, margins entire or with a few small teeth; hairs variously developed, mostly long and crisped and near margin, undersurface glab.; two lateral veins ± evident. Scapes < or > lvs, closely hairy especially in upper part, but obviously not fully developed, the spikes being mostly at or little past flowering stage. Spikes 2-4-(5)-fld. Bracts narrowed above, sepals oblong with raised keel; corolla-tube ± ═ lobes; lobes up to 1·5-2 × 0·4 mm., narrow-triangular; capsules immature, seeds in a detached one 8, small, angular.

These plants do not fit well into P. lanigera, P. novae-zelandiae or P. uniflora, all of which are more nearly matched by other specimens from Mt. Kyeburn. From Maungatua, Garvie Mts and Fiordland come plants resembling the var. but the lvs have more hairs on upper surface and scattered hairs on undersurface also.

The whole complex, like the relationship of South Id plants to the North Id P. novae-zelandiae can hardly be resolved except in the experimental garden.