424 PLANTS OF NEW ZEALAND 



Haastia pulvinaris {The Cushion-like Haastia). 



Rootstock woody : plant forming a cushion 3 in. -5 ft. across. Leaves tawuy 

 or buff -coloured, with thick, close wool, densely imbricating. Heads J in.-i in. 

 across. Rays very short. Achene shining. Pappus-hairs free to the base. 

 South Island : mountainous districts. Fl. Jan. -Feb. Colonists' name, Vegetable 

 Sheep. 



Haastia pulvinaris has been more closely studied than any of 

 the others. It is sometimes incorrectly described as belonging 

 to the shingle-slips, but is really a rock-plant. Though often 

 found at the edges of the fans, and sometimes even surrounded 

 by detritus, it will, if examined, be found rooted to the 

 under-lying rock. It has been found only on the mountains 

 of South Nelson, and exists there at an altitude of from 

 5,000 feet to 6,000 feet ; it is therefore a true alpine, and, like 

 other alpines, has had to devise special means of protection 

 against the rigours of the climate. 



Habit. 



Haastia is a shrub, but it is as unlike a typical shrub as 

 possible. It has no little twigs to be broken, or slender 

 branches to sway in the wind. It is a compact, low-growing 

 cushion plant," often covering an area of from twelve to twenty 

 square feet. The branches are all of the same height, and so 

 closely fitted together, that it is impossible to thrust a pencil 

 point between them. The wind may sweep round the plant, 

 but it cannot move or shake it. The leaves of Haastia, how- 

 ever, are its most unique characteristic. They are from ^in. to 

 ^ in. in length, and so closely packed together as to be matted 

 into a cushion, and indistinguishable from each other, while 

 attached to the plant. AVhenever they are exposed, they are 

 thickly felted with long, slender, woolly hairs, that give the 

 plant its characteristic appearance, and its popular name of 

 vegetable sheep. On the tip of the leaf, as might be expected, 

 the covering of wool is densest. One value of this covering is 

 clearly to protect the plant from the intense cold, to which it 

 is exposed. Indeed, its whole structure is evidently not only 



*v, p. 426. 



