Flora of New Zealand Series

C. integrifolia Hook. f. Fl. Tasm. 1, 1856, 192, t. 50B.

Somewhat fleshy glab. perennial herb with stems branched from base. Stems and lowest branches decumbent, creeping and rooting, then erect to ascending, up to 3 dm. tall, but often reduced to < 10 cm. under adverse conditions. Lamina (12)-50-80 mm. long, entire, narrow-oblong to lanceolate, widened to amplexicaul base; or more usually irregularly pinnatifid with 3 to many pinnae or lobes. Scapes slender, axillary and terminal, of diverse length. Capitula ± 8-10 mm. diam.; phyll. membr., narrow-oblong, obtuse; receptacle ± convex, finally us. strongly so. Florets bright yellow, ♀in 1 series on slender flattened pedicels; disk-florets perfect, us.∞, hardly pedicelled. Achenes broad-cylindric, ± compressed, with broad spongy wings.

DIST.: Three Kings, N., S., St., Ch. Coastal to lowland muddy shores, damp sand hollows, bog and swamp margins, occ. by streamsides, throughout. A very widespread sp., most likely introduced and naturalized in N.Z. and many places elsewhere.

Kirk (Stud. Fl. 1899, 322) treats C. integrifolia as a var., with the diagnosis: "Stems usually simple, 1 in.-2 in. high. Leaves linear, entire, obtuse. Peduncles terminal, solitary. Heads 1/6 in. in diameter." Cheeseman (T.N.Z.I. 62, 1920, 10) remarked: "Certainly nothing more than a starved diminutive form." Observations in the field fully support this conclusion. In the garden I have been able to induce a much better growth of seedling plants. Fuller cultural tests might be worthwhile. The sp. as a whole is very plastic.