Flora of New Zealand Series

C. subulatus Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. 1, 1844, 13; 2, 1847, 247 p.p. non

Sagina subulata Urv. in Mém. Soc. linn. Paris 4, 1826, 617.

C. benthamianus Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 68 non Fenzl in Ann. Wien Mus. 1, 1836, 49.

Type locality: Campbell Id. Type: K. Endemic.

Plant forming compact cushion several cm. across, branches many and close, 2-3 cm. long, lfy throughout. Lvs closely imbricated, incurved towards stem, rigid and shining; sheaths mostly hidden; blades 4-5 mm. long, subulate, tapering from base to short acicular tip; border and midrib distinguishable in very young lvs when dry. Peduncles about = lvs. Fls 3-3·5 mm. long; sepals us. 5, broader than lvs, ovate-subulate, pouched at base, tapering to very short acicular tip, midrib forming flattish keel; capsule lobes about = sepals.

DIST.: A., C. Subalpine rocks.

FL. 12. FT. 1.

It was largely on the basis of the 5-merous fls that Cheeseman segregated this sp. from C. subulatus Hook. f. (for which C. benthamianus Fenzl was a nomenclaturally superfluous synonym), a 4-merous Fuegian and Falkland Is plant; he did not discuss the relationships with C. pulvinatus F. Muell. in Trans. Phil. Soc. Vict. 1, 1855, 101. Mueller records his sp. from "the barest gravelly summits of the Munyang Mountains" and remarks that it is "seemingly the same species found by Dr. Hooker in Campbell's Island". He also says that this plant is perhaps not otherwise distinguishable from C. subulatus than in its quinary floral parts. Mueller's Pl. XI in Pl. Vict. 1, 1860-65 shows a habit rather unlike that of C. hookeri but authentic specimens have not been compared.

Among specimens from both A. and C. (Cape Expedition) are clumps with both 4- and 5-merous fls close together, the latter us. but not invariably greatly predominating.