Flora of New Zealand Series

R. apice-nigra Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 11, 1879, 464.

R. australis var. apice-nigra Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 302.

R. monroi Beauverd loc. cit. 1912, 54, f. 14, 9-18 non Hook. f. Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 148.

R. beauverdii Ckn. in T.N.Z.I. 46, 1914, 64.

Type locality: Mount Monro, Awatere, 5-6000 ft. Type: W, P. McRae and T. Kirk.

Habit rather more open, lvs spathulate, c. 3 mm. long, ± inflexed, clad almost to base on both surfaces in soft white tomentum. Inner phyll. pale stramineous, margins hyaline, apical tomentum dark brown to almost black; pappus-hairs very slightly thickened; papillae minutely claviform. Achenes glab. or nearly so.

DIST.: S. Montane to subalpine open places and fellfield; drainage area of Awatere R., Seaward Kaikoura Range.

The status of R. beauverdii is rather uncertain. Cockayne, loc. cit., gives the distribution as: "(1) Otago-steppe of Central Otago; common. (2) Southland-Sand-dunes along Foveaux Strait. L.C." In Veg. N.Z. 1921, 359 he remarks, "most likely syn. for R. apice-nigra T. Kirk." Beauverd, for his R. monroi, remarks: "Par son aspect, le R. monroi ressemble beaucoup au R. australis var. apice-nigra, dont il se distingue par des feuilles à pubescence blanche beaucoup plus dense et à limbe plus développé (± 5 mm.) (cf. fig. XI: 1 et fig. XIV: 17-18); les écailles intérieures du péricline (± 41/2 mm. long.) n'offrent pas la zone hyaline qui sépare les marges jaunâtres de la région dorsale vert-opaque chez le R. australis, et l'appendice apical, de dimensions plus restreintes, est de couleur moins foncée que chez le R. australis var. apice-nigra." Beauverd based his R. monroi on specimens collected by Petrie in Central Otago. The type is in Herb. Boissier.