Var. pusilla, Kirk, Students' Fl. 302.— Smaller, glabrous or nearly so, much more closely branched; branches 15–12 in. high. Leaves 120–112 in., linear, acute, concave. Female florets almost twice as numerous as the hermaphrodite ones.
North and South Islands: Not uncommon from the Thames goldfields southwards, usually on gravelly or sandy river-beds. Var. pusilla: Rimutaka Range, Kirk! mountains flanking the Wairau Valley, T.F.C. Sea-level to 5000 ft. December–January.
Easily distinguished by the slender habit, narrow acute or apiculate leaves with greyish tomentum, and brown-tipped involucral bracts.
3. R. Haastii, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 148.—Glabrous or nearly so, forming small dense patches. Stems short, rather stout, prostrate; branches numerous, closely packed, ½–1 in. high, rarely more. Leaves densely imbricated, erecto-patent, 116 in. long, with a broad membranous sheathing base and much narrower ovatesubulate coriaceous tip, concave, quite glabrous or obscurely silky or woolly. Heads 16 in. long; involucral bracts in 2–3 series, scarious, linear, obtuse, not brown at the tips. Florets few, 4 to 8; 2–4 of them female. Achene puberulous. Pappus-hairs copious, slender, not thickened above.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 302.
South Island: Nelson—Waiau Valley, Sinclair, Travers; Amuri, Kirk! Clarence Valley, T.F.C. Canterbury—Kowai River, Haast! Upper Waimakariri and Broken River, Kirk! T. F. C. Otago—Kyeburn Crossing, Maniototo County, Petrie! 1000–3000 ft. November–December.
Separated from R. tenuicaulis by the shorter leaves with broad bases and ovate-subulate tips, and by the narrower few-flowered heads.
4. R. Monroi, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 148.—Stems wiry, creeping, much interlaced, forming broad patches; rootlets long, filiform; branches slender, ascending, silky, 1–2 in. high or more. Leaves laxly or densely imbricate, rarely distant, spreading and recurved, 18–14 in. long, linear or linear-spathulate, obtuse, uniformly clothed on both surfaces with greyish-white appressed tomentum; margins incurved. Heads narrow, 16 in. long; involucral bracts in 3–4 series; the outer oblong, tomentose; the inner longer and narrower, scarious, with brown obtuse tips. Florets from 15 to 20, the females the most numerous. Achene oblong, puberulous. Pappus-hairs copious, slender, not thickened at the tips.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 303.
South Island: Not uncommon in dry gravelly and sandy places in Marlborough, Canterbury, and Otago. Sea-level to 3500 ft. November–January.
Easily recognised by the uniform greyish-white colour, linear spreading and recurved leaves, and narrow heads with brown-tipped iuvolucral scales.
5. R. glabra, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 135.—Stems long, slender, prostrate, much branched, forming lax patches 3–24 in. across; branches ascending, 1–3 in. long. Leaves pale yellow-
