PLATE 93.—CELMISIA LATERALIS. 
Famity COMPOSIT..] [Genus CELMISIA, Cass. 
Celmisia lateralis, Buch. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv (1872), 226, t. 15; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. 
Fil. 301. 
Celmisia lateralis, which is one of the most distinct species of the genus, 
was originally discovered by Mr. H. H. Travers in 1871, on the mountains 
near Lake Guyon, in the southernmost portion of the Nelson Provincial 
District. Ten years later it was observed by the Rev. F. R. Spencer and 
myself on the Mount Arthur Plateau, north-west Nelson. About the same 
time Mr. R. Helms detected it on the coastal ranges near Greymouth, 
Westland, the most southern locality yet recorded. Mr. Townson, while 
exploring the vegetation of the Westport district, observed it in some quantity 
on Mounts Rochfort and Frederic, the two chief peaks of the abrupt coastal 
range which runs northwards from the mouth of the Buller River. On Mount 
Murchison, in the upper portion of the Buller Valley, he obtained a very 
distinct-looking variety in which the leaves are clothed with soft spreading 
glandular hairs, to which I have applied the varietal name of villosa. 
Lastly, Mr. F. G. Gibbs, who has done such excellent botanical work in the 
Nelson Provincial District of late years, has ascertained that it is not 
uncommon on the mountains to the north of Mount Arthur, as Mount Cobb, 
Diamond Lake Range, mountains near the Heaphy River, &c. It thus 
appears to be one of those species mainly confined to the western side of the 
main axis of the northern portion of the South Island. Its altitudinal range 
is from 3,000 ft. to 4,500 ft. 
C. lateralis has an entirely different aspect from that of any other species, 
and can be recognized at a glance. The procumbent stems, which are almost 
woody at the base, the numerous ascending or suberect branches, and the 
small densely crowded linear-subulate leaves, incurved towards the tips of the 
branches, but spreading below, and which are green on both surfaces, are in 
combination a very striking set of characters. Its nearest allies are probably 
C. Gibbs and C. ramulosa, although both of them have so many points of 
difference that the relationship is decidedly distant. Mr. Buchanan’ compared 
it with C. laricifolia; but that species differs altogether in habit, in the 
terminal peduncles, and in the narrower and more rigid almost acerose leaves, 
clothed with silky tomentum beneath. I do not place the two species in the 
same division of the genus. 
Puate 93. Celmisia lateralis, drawn from specimens collected on the Mount Arthur Plateau, 
Nelson, at an altitude of 4,000 ft. Fig. 1, leaf (x 6); 2, involucral bracts, showing the glandular 
pubescence (x 4); 3, ray-floret (x 4); 4, disc-floret (x 4); 5, pappus-hair (x 10); 6, anthers (x 8) ; 
7, style-arms (x 8). 
