1-nerved, upper surface slightly cottony or glabrous, beneath clothed with cottony appressed tomentum. Heads solitary, ½ in. diam. or more, on bracteate cottony peduncles 1–5 in. long terminating the branches; involucral bracts in many series, linear-ligulate, ¼–⅓ in. long, with scarious tomentose claws and long white radiating tips. Eeceptacle convex or almost conical. Florets very numerous; females few, in 1 or 2 series. Achene glabrous, with a thickened areole at the base. Pappus-hairs few, slender.—A. Cunn. Precur. n. 449; Raoul, Choix, 45; Kirk, Students' Fl. 308. Gnaphahum bellidioides, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 137; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 152. Xeranthemum bellidioides, Forst. Prodr. n. 293; A. Rich. Fl. Nouv. Zel. 242.
Var. prostratum, Kirk, Students' Fl. 309.—Similar to the type, but heads sessile at the tips of the branches.—H. prostratum, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 30, t. 21. Gnaphalium prostratum, Hook f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 137; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 152.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands, Stewart Island, Auckland and Campbell Islands, Antipodes Island: Abundant in mountain districts from the East Cape and Taupo southwards. Sea-level to 5000 ft. November–February. Var. prostratum: Sparingly found in both North and South Islands, more abundant in the Auckland and Campbell Islands.
A common plant. I quite agree with Mr. Kirk in considering H. prostratum to be a variety only, and there is no difficulty in collecting passage-forms from no peduncles to very long bracteate ones. But I do not find the conical receptacle to be peculiar to var. prostratum.
2. H. Purdiei, Petrie in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxii. (1890) 440.—Stems slender, wiry, prostrate, spreading, much branched, woody at the base, 1–2 ft. long; branches white and tomentose at the tips. Leaves distant, spreading, ¼–½ in. long, obovate-spathulate, rounded at the tip and minutely apiculate, flat, rather membranous, pubescent or almost glabrous above, beneath clothed with laxly appressed greyish-white tomentum. Heads ¼ in. diam., in corymbs of 3 to 6 terminating the branchlets; peduncles and pedicels short, slender, tomentose. Involucral bracts in several series; the outer very short, obtuse, brown and scarious; the inner linear-oblong with short white radiating tips. Florets very numerous; females few, in 1–2 series. Achene glabrous, with a thickened areole at the base. Pappus-hairs few, slender, barbellate above.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 309.
South Island: Otago—Dunedin Harbour, rare, A. C. Purdie! Petrie! Aston! November–December.
3. H. filicaule, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 140, t. 36b.—Rhizome long, wiry, creeping, putting up numerous very slender siniple or rarely branched erect cottony stems 3–10 in. high. Leaves distant, ¼–⅓ in. long, obovate-oblong or narrow-oblong, obtuse or apiculate, glabrous or slightly cottony above, beneath clothed with white cottony tomentum. Heads solitary, terminal on long filiform
