Flora of New Zealand Series

Type locality: "Tops of the Ruahine Mountains". Type: K, Colenso.

Glab. perennial up to 18 cm. tall, us. less, with stout rhizome. Lvs radical, clustered; petiole slender, grooved, up to 10 cm. long, expanded to membr. sheathing base. Lamina 8-25 × 4-12 mm., about ovate-oblong to oblong, subcordate at 2-lobed base, slightly sinuate to entire, deeply emarginate at apex. Lobes upturned and ± appressed to lamina, at most to midway. Scape solitary, short, 1-fld, finally up to 14 cm. long. Sepals 5-7, pale yellow, 3-nerved, linear-subulate, attenuate. Stamens 15-20; carpels 6-12, ovate in outline, 4-5 mm. long; style rather stout, c. 2 mm. long. Ripe heads c. 1·5 cm. diam.; seeds 2-5 per follicle.

DIST.: N., S., St. Montane to subalpine damp grassland and herbfield from lat. 39° southwards.

FL. 9-11. FT. 12-3.

Colenso (T. N. Z. I. 23, 1891, 382) distinguishes his C. marginata (from "secondary summits of Ruahine mountain range, cast side, County of Waipawa; 1890: Mr. A. Olsen") by the smaller size, crenulate lvs with pale cartilaginous margins. The specimens at K are fragmentary, but plants have been collected on the Ruahine Range (BD 70812, in sphagnum peat, N. T. Moar 18/2/1951) with the lamina ± crenulate, broadly oblong to rounded. Further study is required.