Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/369

Forming compact greenish masses. Leaves densely imbricate, linear-oblong, truncate, tip of upper surface clothed with straight dense hairs, naked beneath	16. R. Goyeni.
Forming compact patches. Leaves densely imbricate, erecto-patent, tips clothed on both surfaces with appressed silky tomentum	17. R. bryoides.

1. R. australis, Hook. f. ex Raoul, Choix de Plantes, 20, t. 15.—Forming broad flat patches. Stems 1—6 in. long, much interlaced, prostrate and rooting; branches numerous, closely packed, short, erect, ½–1½ in. high. Leaves laxly or densely imbricated, erect or spreading or recurved, 1/15–1/8 in. long, linear- or obovate-spathulate to rounded spathulate, obtuse at the tip, concave, more or less clothed on both surfaces with white or yellowish tomentum, especially towards the tip. Heads 1/8–1/4 in. long; involucral bracts in 2–3 series; outer spathulate, tomentose; mner linear, obtuse, scarious, shining, pale-yellow. Florets from 12 to 20 or more, the females equalling or exceeding the hermaphrodite ones in number. Achene glabrous or minutely pubescent. Pappus-hairs very numerous, extremely slender, not thickened at the tips.—Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 135; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 148; Kirk, Students' Fl. 302. R. Mackayi, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xiv. (1882) 354, t. 34, f. 2. R. albosericea, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xx. (1888) 195.

Var. apice-nigra, Kirk, Students' Fl. 302.—Leaves more densely tomentose, white with soft woolly hairs. Outer involucral bracts black at the tips.—R. apice-nigra, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xi. (1879) 464.

Var. lutescens, Kirk, l.c.—Smaller. Leaves densely imbricating, shorter, 1/20–1/12 in. long. Heads smaller; involucral bracts bright-yellow.

North Island: From the East Cape and the Upper Thames Valley southwards, but often local. South Island: Abundant throughout. Stewart Island: Mason Bay, Kirk! Sea-level to 5500 ft. December–January.

A very variable plant, especially in the size and shape of the leaves, and the extent to which they are clothed with white tomentum. Mr. Colenso describes his R. albosericea as having few florets and few pappus-hairs; but the specimens in his herbarium are long past flowering, and have evidently lost most of the florets and much of the pappus, and apparently do not differ from the type in any essential character.

2. R. tenuicaulis, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 135, t. 36a.—Stems slender, prostrate and creeping, much and laxly branched, 1–10 in. long; branches ascending at the tips. Leaves laxly imbricating, spreading or recurved, 1/15–1/10 long linear-oblong or lanceolate-spathulate, or on luxuriant shoots obovate-spathulate, acuminate or apiculate, concave, more or less clothed with greyish appressed tomentum or almost glabrous. Heads 1/8–1/6 in. long; involucral bracts in 3 series; outer tomentose or glabrate, acute; inner scarious, with brown acute or obtuse tips. Florets from 10 to 16, the females about equalling the hermaphrodite ones in number. Achene glabrate or puberulous. Pappus-hairs copious, very slender.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 148; Kirk, Students' Fl. 302.