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Manual of the New Zealand Flora.
5. Pleurophyllum, Hook. f
5. Pleurophyllum, Hook. f.
Tall handsome silky robust perennial herbs. Leaves mostly radical, large, entire, many-nerved. Heads large, racemed at the-top of the stem. Involucre broadly campanulate or hemispherical; bracts in 2–3 series, herbaceous. Receptacle flat, pitted. Ray-florets female, ligulate, in 1–3 series; ligule long or short. 'Discflorets many, regular, tubular, campanulate at the mouth, 4–5-toothed. Anthers shortly and obtusely auricled at the base-Style-branches of the disc-florets flattened, with lanceolate tips. Achenes compressed, striated, densely setose. Pappus-hairs in 2–3-series, copious, rigid, scabrid, unequal.
The genus is limited to the three following species, and is confined to the-outlying islands to the south of New Zealand. It is very closely allied to Celmisia, from which it is separated rather by the very distinct and peculiar. habit than by any structural characters of importance.
Ray-florets with a conspicuous ray. Leaves large, 6–18 in., sessile by a broad base 1. P. speciosum. Ray-florets short, inconspicuous. Leaves large, 1–4 ft., petiolate, green above 2. P. criniferum Ray-florets short, inconspicuous. Leaves smaller, 6–12 in., petiolate, white and silvery on both surfaces 3. P. Hookeri.
| 1. | P. speciosum, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 31, t. 22, 23.—Leaves chiefly radical, spreading horizontally all round the base of the stem, 6–18 in. long, 4–10 in. broad, broadly ovate or obovate, sessile by a broad base, thick and coriaceous, quite entire, furnished with 15–20 stout longitudinal parallel ribs, villous and tomentose beneath, above slightly setose, with the bristles more or less mixed with moniliforin hairs. Cauline leaves few, oblong-lanceolate-. Flowering-stems several, 1½–3 ft. high, ending in a raceme of 8–20 heads; bracts numerous, linear. Heads 1½–2½ in. diam.; discrflorets dark-purple; ray-florets with a conspicuous ligule, light-purple or almost whitish. Achenes densely silky-strigose. Pappus-hairs not thickened at the tips.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 129; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 433; Students' Fl. 277.
Auckland and Campbell Islands: Abundant from sea-level to nearly 1000 ft. December–January. A truly noble plant, at once recognised by the large purple heads with; conspicuous spreading rays. |
| 2. | P. criniferum, Hook. f. Fl. Antarct. i. 32, t. 24, 25.—Radical leaves variable in size and shape, 1–4 ft. long, 4–12 in. broad., orbicular-ovate or broadly oblong to ovate-lanceolate or obovate-lanceolate, acute, narrowed into a sheathing petiole of variable-length, firm but membranous, clothed with thin white tomentum page 296beneath, above setose with momhform hairs intermixed; principal nerves 8–16, parallel, but following the outline of the leaf; margins remotely and minutely spinulose-serrate. Cauline-leaves smaller and narrower, sessile, clothed with thin white tomentum on both surfaces. Flowering-stem stout, 2–6 ft. high; raceme of 15–30 heads or more. Heads subglobose, discoid, 1–1½ in. diam., purple; in-volucral bracts ovate-lanceolate, margins ciliate. Ray-florets with a very short and inconspicuous 2–3-fid ligule. Achenes silky-strigose. Pappus-hairs slightly thickened at the tips.—Handb. N.Z. Fl. 129; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 434. P. Hombronii, Dcne, in Voy. Astrol. et Zèl. 36. Albinea orisegenesa, Homb. &** Jacq. Voy. Astrol. et Zèl. 37, t. 4.
Auckland and Campbell Islands, Antipodes Island: Abundant from sea-level to over 1000 ft. December–January. Separated from the preceding by the petiolate leaves and subglobose discoid heads. Kirk has pointed out that the plate in the "Flora Antarctica," excellent in most respects, is faulty in the leaf figured not being that of the present species, but of P. speciosum. |
| 3. | P. Hookeri, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xvi. (1884) 395 (excl. t. 37).—Leaves all radical, 6–12 in. long, 3–4 in. broad, obovate or oblong-obovate, acute or acuminate, narrowed into a short broad petiole, coriaceous, clothed on both surfaces with rather loose white and silvery tomentum; principal nerves 8–12, slender; margins entire or minutely denticulate. Flowering-stems 1–3, 1½–2 ft. high, strict, silky-tomentose, naked below excepting for 1–3 narrow-linear bracts; raceme of 12–24 heads. Heads subglobose, discoid, ¾ in. diam.; involucral bracts narrow - linear, acuminate. Ray-florets few, with a very short and inconspicuous 2-lobed ligule. Achene silky. Pappus-hairs hardly thickened above.—Kirk, Students' Fl. 278. P. Hookerianum, Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxiii. (1891) 435. P. Gilliesianum, Kirk in Rep. Austral. Assoc. (1891) 220.
Auckland Islands: Kirk! Campbell Island: Buchanan! Kirk! Mac-quaeib Island: Scott, Hamilton! 500–1000 ft. December–January. Closely allied to the preceding, but sufficiently distinct in the smaller size, leaves silvery-tomentose on both surfaces, rigid scapes, and smaller heads, |