Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: St. James Station, Amuri, 3000 ft. Type: W, 4719, T. Kirk.

Perennial with deeply descending root c. 1-3 cm. diam. near stock. Stems simple or rarely 2-3-branched, stout, striate, margined, 3-4·5-(6) dm. tall. Basal Ivs ∞, rosulate, 5-10-15 cm. × 6-15-20 mm., coriac., us. fleshy, oblong or narrowly oblong-spathulate, 1-3-nerved, obtuse or sub-acute, narrowed to short or long petiole. Cauline Ivs 2-5-(7·5) cm. long, narrow-oblong to narrow-lanceolate. Infl. a terminal compact umbelliform or corymbose cyme 5-15 cm. diam., or occ. much larger; pedicels slender, margined. Calyx us. c. 1/2 length corolla, campanulate to tubular, cut hardly 1/2 way into deltoid-lanceolate or subulate acute to acuminate lobes; sinus broad. Corolla white, 12-20 mm. diam. or more, cut c. ⅔ way into broad-oblong rounded lobes.

DIST.: S. Montane to subalpine grassland, herbfield and open places throughout.

G. pleurogynoides var. rigida Kirk in T.N.Z.I. 27, 1895, 335 is represented by 2 sheets in Herb. Kirk; there are 2 slender, possibly young, plants matching G. corymbifera, and 1 much smaller resembling G. serotina.

Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 731) remarks: "Mr. Brown informs me that it corresponds with the G. saxosa var. γ of the Handbook, and I suspect that it also includes a part of the G. pleurogynoides of the same work. At any rate, it is the plant which New Zealand botanists have been accustomed to call G. pleurogynoides. The true G. pleurogynoides was founded on Tasmanian specimens, and has not yet been satisfactorily matched with any New Zealand plant."

Hooker (Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 191) gives for G. saxosa var. γ : "Stems erect, very stout, simple, sparingly leafy. Leaves often large, thick, and fleshy. Flowers very numerous, large, corymbose. Calyx short, divided to the middle; lobes ovate-acute or acuminate. (Like G. pleurogynoides, but perennial, and calyx very peculiar, unlike any except some forms of var. α" Var. α is G. bellidifolia figured in Ic. Pl. t. 635.