Flora of New Zealand Series

Type: W, 4731, Jan. 17, 1890, T. Kirk.

Perennial, 7-25 cm. tall, with several to many striate close-set to ± fastigiate stems and branches, decumbent at base, then erect. Basal lvs lingulate or linear-spathulate, obtuse, rather crowded; lamina ± 15-20 × 4-5-(6), often ± wrinkled, on flat petiole up to 15 mm. long. Cauline lvs rather narrower, several to many, subacute, with flat petiole. Infl.-branchlets ± appressed to stem for upper 3/4 length, forming a narrow trichotomous cyme. Fls 6-8 mm. long, shortly pedicelled, bracted, solitary, axillary or on short 3-5-fld branchlets. Calyx < corolla, cut nearly to base into linear-oblong to sublanceolate, subacute lobes. Corolla narrow, white or with red streaks, cut c. ⅔ way into linear-oblong lobes.

DIST.: Ant. Abundant.

Kirk (loc. cit. 340-341) distinguishes: " Forma pallida. Stems yellow, corolla white. Forma rubra. Stems red, corolla white with longitudinal red stripe." He remarks, "The strict fastigiate habit of this plant and the lingulate leaves readily distinguish it from any other New Zealand species." The plants are frequently attacked by a "wart"-producing fungus; both Kirk and Cheeseman refer to the "warts" as a constant feature. Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 736) says: "It should be remarked that both this species and G. antarctica occasionally produce much smaller flowers which have smaller almost sessile anthers and ovaries with fewer ovules. Probably these flowers are cleistogamic, but my specimens are not sufficiently good to determine this."

POLYMORPHY

The key provided may be helpful, but will not solve all the student's problems. We still know far too little of the life-history of any sp., especially as to the development of the different characters as the plant increases in age, e.g., the transition from solitary fls to compound inflorescences. It is probable that most spp. are very plastic and that the exact nature of the habitat plays a large part in producing different forms.

Cheeseman (Man. N.Z. Fl. 1925, 724) observes: "The species are in all countries highly variable and difficult of discrimination, but nowhere more so than in New Zealand, where they are peculiarly unstable, presenting a bewildering multitude of closely allied forms, to arrange which systematically is a most perplexing task." He remarks of G. patula (loc. cit. 731): "A very variable plant. What may be regarded as the typical state has a stout fusiform root often shortly branched at the top, each branch bearing a crown of oblong-spathulate radical leaves and a flowering stem 6-18 in. high. Dwarf specimens are indistinguishable from G. bellidifolia; but usually the stems are much taller, giving the plant quite a different appearance, and the flowers are much more numerous. Other states approach G. montana, G. corymbifera, and G. Townsoni; and small copiously branched forms appear to pass into G. divisa."

Cockayne and Allan (Ann. Bot., Lond. 48, 1934, 38) point out: "The difficulty of coming to clear-cut decisions is greatly increased by the refusal of the species in general to be cultivated. To succeed with this two methods are available: (1) take up a small plant together with a large amount of soil and place this in a suitable spot in a well-constructed alpine garden [by no means always successful]; (2) sow seed in situ in such a garden [being tried by J. A. Petterson with promising results]."

Herbarium and field evidence strongly suggest that on Mount Arthur, Nelson, occur populations containing more than one undescribed sp., but sufficient study of the material has not yet been made. An example may be tentatively given: BD 75636, Mount Arthur, near saddle from Gordon Pyramid, bare limestone rounded ridge, c. 4500 ft., J. A. Hay, 13.4.52. Root stout, crown sts multicipital; lvs in dense rosulate clusters, membr., grassy, linear to narrow-spathulate; lamina narrowed from apex to base and continued into petiole, the whole ± 6 cm. × 5-10 mm. Cauline lvs similar, smaller, in 2-3 distant pairs. Stems several, slender, up to ± 15 cm. long. Infl. of solitary fls or 2-3 together on pedicels up to c. 10 mm. long. Calyx up to 15 mm. long, cut almost to base into narrow-lanceolate lobes, sinus acute. Corolla c. 20 mm. long, deeply cut into clear white obovate lobes, sometimes showing a tendency to "doubling".