Flora of New Zealand Series

D. dieffenbachii var. laxa Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 1906, 616.

Type locality: Ruahine Range. Type: A, Tryon.

Plant forming lax patches up to 30 cm. or more diam.; stems and branches prostrate and rooting, up to 4 mm. diam.; branchlets spreading to suberect, up to 5 cm. long, glabrate except at lf-bases. Lvs erecto-patent, densely imbricate, 4-5 × 1-1·5 mm., linear- to elliptic-oblong, rounded at apex, nearly flat, submembr.; venation us. evident, margins ciliate, apex penicillate. Fls 3-8 per head; scales 8, minute, distinct. Per. tube villous, 1·75-2 mm. long; lobes 1·5-1·75 mm. long, oblong. Ovary ovoid, villous at apex. Fr. ovoid, 2 mm. long.

DIST.: N., S. Montane to subalpine grassland and fellfield from Ruahine Range to lat. 41° 30'. Blue Mountains, Otago, L. B. Moore.

FL.- FT. 12-3.