Flora of New Zealand Series

Type: W, alt. 3000 ft., P. Lawson, 1868.

Plant up to ± 25 cm. tall, with stout, spreading stems; branches glabrate, us. at wide angle, ± tortuous, bark almost black, lf-scars prominent; branchlets ± clad in long silky hairs. Lvs at first ascending, becoming patent, sessile or nearly so. Lamina 5-10 × 1-2 mm., linear-lanceolate, ± concave above, inrolled when dry, coriac., glab. or laxly hairy on surface, apex and margins ciliate. Subfloral lvs up to 3 mm. broad. Infl. of (4)-6-9-fld heads. Per. silky-hairy to villous, white; tube 6-9 mm. long, lobes broad-ovate to oblong, ± 3 mm. long. Fr. baccate, red, ovoid, acute, with pencil of hairs at apex.

DIST.: S. Fellfield on Dun Mountain Range.

FL.- FT. 10-12.

Hooker (Handbk N.Z. Fl. 1864, 244) included this in his var. γ of P. prostrata : "Stems suberect, black, tortuous, and scarred. Leaves erecto-patent, ovate or linear-lanceolate, acute, glabrous", but gives the range as "from Nelson (Travers) to Otago, Hector."

The habit appears to be due to the magnesium-rich soil. Gibbs collected specimens on Mount Maungatu near Nelson on greywacke-derived soil with erect ± virgate habit; branchlets slender, clad in white ascending hairs; lamina less coriac., more shallowly concave, ± 7-10 × 1-2 mm., linear-lanceolate to lanceolate; margins and apices ciliate; surfaces, or at least lower one, at first sparsely hairy. Heads up to ± 10-fld; per. shortly pedicelled, tube ± 3-4 mm. long, lobes ovate-oblong, ± 2 mm. long. Cultural experiments under different soil conditions should be worth while.