Var. monroi.
Hooker's description is: ."Leaves 3-5 in. long, ⅓-⅔ broad, narrow linear-oblong, strict, subacute, very coriaceous, with a silvery pellicle of matted cottony hairs above, below with dense white silvery tomentum, wrinkled in parallel lines when dry; margins slightly recurved; sheaths densely woolly and snow-white. Scape longer than the leaves, stout, very woolly and cottony; bracts numerous, linear. Head 1-11/2 in. diam.; involucral scales numerous, linear-subulate, erect or recurved, woolly or glabrate; rays very numerous, 3/4 in. long; pappus ⅓in. long. Achene glabrous or hispidulous.
"Middle Island: Upton Downs, Awatare, elev. 1500 ft., Munro; Hopkins River, Mount Cook, and elsewhere in the alps of Canterbury, 3-4500 ft., Travers and Haast . . . Munro's specimens have quite glabrous achenes, Haast's are hispidulous."
At present a number of forms are placed in herbaria under this name, and the lines separating C. monroi, C. coriacea and its narrow forms and C. insignis cannot be really satisfactorily drawn prior to much further study. Cockayne (T.N.Z.I. 48, 1916, 194) says of C. monroi: "The leaves are not infrequently much longer (21 in.) than therein [Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 313] described, and broader (11/2 in.), though about 3/4 in. is perhaps the average breadth. The leaf-sheaths are not always short, but may be of great length-e.g. a lamina 111/2 in. long may possess a sheath 9 in. long. The texture of the leaf is frequently thinner than has hitherto been described, and more or less flaccid leaves are not uncommon." Cockayne was probably referring to shade forms or hybrids with narrow forms of C. coriacea. Forms quite well agreeing with Hooker's description are not uncommon in the drainage area of the Upper Awatere.
Martin (T.R.S.N.Z. 65, 1935, 173) says: "All plants noted by me in that locality [Upton Downs] grow on the steep, shaded bank of a stream and lack the customary rigidity of the leaf. The leaves are much longer (18 inches and more) than is usual on plants growing in the open, and are distinctly petiolate. The virtual type at Kew is probably one of these shade-epharmones." Neither Hooker's type specimen, nor his description support this conclusion.
The type specimen consists of one tuft with ∞ lvs and 2 scapes. There is also a separate scape. Lamina coriac., stiff, 7-10 cm. × 10-12 mm., acute or subacute, sulcate, linear-lanceolate, tapering to petiole c. 2 cm. long; sheath c. 5 cm. long; pseudo-stem ± 7 cm. long. Scape c. 18 cm. long, floccose; bracts ∞, to 15 mm. long, linear. Capitula up to 35 mm. diam.; achenes glab.
Martin (loc. cit. 183) describes 2 vars:
"7. Celmisia Monroi Hook. f. var robusta var. nov. Folia typo multo latiora planioraque, sublanceolata, 12-20 cm. longa, aliquando 30 cm., 3·5-5 cm. lata. South Island: Type locality-Mount Schiza. Type deposited in Plant Research Station, Palmerston North. Area of distribution Mount Patriarch, Mount Z., St. Arnaud Mountains, Raglan Mountains, Bounds Range, Tarndale. The ratio of length to breadth of leaf in this variety varies from 1/2 to ⅔ that of the typical form.
"8. Celmisia Monroi Hook. f. var. conspicua var. nov. Similis C. robusto sed bractae longiorae et foliosae. South Island: Type locality-Kekerangu. Area of distribution between the mouth of the Clarence River and Lake Grassmere and inland to the Ure Basin. The lower bracts of the flowering scape are often four inches or more long and afford the best distinguishing mark between this and the previous variety." Specimens of these vars named by Martin have not been located.
