Aciphylla colensoi Hook.f.
A. colensoi var. conspicua Kirk Stud. Fl. 1899, 207.
Type locality: Ruahine Range. Type K, Colenso.
Forming small to rather large tufts, with us. stout stems sts up to ± 1 m. tall. Lvs ± 3-5 dm. long, pinnate; occ. 2-pinnate lvs are present. Sheaths up to c. 6 × 3 cm. long, rather thin; stipules stiff, simple or occ. with accessory smaller pinnules, up to ± 7 cm. × 4 mm., tapering to pungent apex; petioles up to c. 10 cm. long, stout, winged; lower internodes up to ± 3-4 cm. long. Pinnae 2-4 pairs, slender strongly serrulate; midrib broad, prominent, red to orange; lower laminae up to 20-40-(45) cm. × ± 12 mm., narrowing to pungent apex. Infl. narrow-oblong. Lower bracts with sheath ± 30 × 12 mm., tapering to long pungent tips; lamina ribbed, ± 10 cm. × 3-4 mm., with stout prominent red to yellow midrib, with pungent point up to ± 3 mm. long. Umbels crowded, from near base to apex of peduncles; umbellules crowded, on slender rays to ± 1 cm. long; Fr. c. 8 mm. long. mericarps 4-3-winged. Vittae 2-4 per furrow. 5-6 commissural
DIST.: N., S. Montane to subalpine from c. lat. 38º to 43º 30'.
I agree with Oliver (loc cit 16) in restricting the epithet colensoi to the forms, including the type, that have been accepted as belonging to var. conspicua. Even as so restricted A. Colensoi is a complex, especially as regards the forms of northern South Id. Cockayne (N. Z. Plants Suitable for North American Gardens 1914, 28) adopted the name A. conspicua, but neither then nor later made any formal recombination.
