PLatTeE 96.—CELMISIA PETIOLATA. 
Famiry COMPOSIT 4. ] [Genus CELMISIA, Cass, 
Celmisia petiolata, Hook. f. Handb. N.Z. Fl. 134; Cheesem. Man. N.Z. Fl. 307. 
Celnisia petiolata, although not quite so handsome as the species figured in 
the previous plate, is still a most beautiful and attractive plant. With a very 
similar habit and mode of growth, it has narrower and much more membranous 
leaves, which are clothed beneath with a thin whitish tomentum, which thus 
replaces the striking covering of felted ferruginous hairs seen in C. Traversit. 
The scapes are more slender and usually more numerous, and the flower-heads 
are larger, being frequently as much as 23 in. in diameter. 
So far as I can ascertain, Mr. W. T. L. Travers was its first discoverer, his 
specimens being obtained on the Hurunui Mountains, in North Canterbury. 
But it was gathered shortly afterwards by Dr. Sinclair in the Rangitata Valley, 
and a little later by Sir Julius von Haast in the Lake Ohau district, while Sir 
James Hector collected it on the western side of the Lake district of Otago. 
It is now known to be an abundant subalpine plant in the central and western 
portions of the Southern Alps, from Lake Tennyson to the south-west of Otago. 
At the same time, it never extends far beyond the influence of the abundant 
westerly rains. Its altitudinal range is from 2,000 ft. to 5,000 ft. 
In the Mount Cook district C. petiolata is by far the most abundant species 
of the genus. It descends the valleys of the Tasman and Hooker to as low 
an elevation as 2,000 ft., and ascends the mountains to a height of fully 5,000 ft. 
In the river-valleys it occurs in open places among the subalpine scrub, or 
occupies sheltered nooks on the sides of the lateral moraines. On the sides of 
the mountains it is found in moist rocky hollows, especially where sheltered 
from strong winds, and is often found in company with C. coriacea, Senecio 
Lyall, Ligusticum Haast, and other well-known plants. 
Mr. Kirk, in his “ Students’ Flora,” associates a Stewart Island plant with 
C. petiolata, under the varietal name of rigida. It has more coriaceous and 
rigid leaves, and the tomentum of the under-surface is ferruginous, but 
otherwise there is little to separate it from the typical state. It is found on 
coastal cliffs only. Mr. Kirk also separated a second variety with the name of 
membranacea. This differs from the type in the more membranous leaves, which are 
glabrous or nearly so on both surfaces. The scapes and involucral bracts are 
also nearly glabrous. It has been gathered in the Upper Clarence and Waiau 
Valleys, and on the Lyell Mountains, on the other side of the Island. 
PuatE 96. Celmisia petiolata, drawn from specimens collected in the Hooker Valley, Mount Cook 
district, at an altitude of 2,500 ft. Fig. 1, margin of leaf (x 3); 2, bracts from the involucre (x 3) ; 
3, ray-floret (x 3); 4, disc-floret (x 3); 5, pappus-hair (x 8); 6, anthers (x 8); 7, style-arms (x 8) ; 
8, transverse section of ovary (x 8). 
