Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asterales Link
Family
Compositae Giseke
Genus
Pachystegia Cheeseman
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Pachystegia insignis (Hook.f.) Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl., ed. 2, 910 (1925)
Synonymy:
Vernacular Name(s):
Marlborough daisy; Marlborough rock daisy
 Description

Stout spreading shrub up to 2 m. tall, us. less. Branches stout, densely tomentose. Lvs in subrosettes towards tips of branchlets, very thick and coriac., entire (occ. retuse to emarginate), glab. above when mature, clad in dense soft white to buff or fulvous tomentum below, us. with line of tomentum along margins above. Petioles stout, up to 5 cm. or more long; lamina 6·5–16 × 3–7·5 cm., oblong to obovate-oblong, or ovate-oblong, obtuse. Peduncles 10–30 cm. × 3–5 mm., densely tomentose, nude or with distal foliaceous bracts often subtending capitula. Capitula subglobose; receptacle 1–2 cm. diam. Phyll. tomentose without, glab. and lustrous within. Ray-florets ∞, as are the disk-florets. Achenes c. 1 cm. long, very narrow-linear, silky-hairy. Pappus-hairs c. 1 cm. long, barbellate, slightly thickened above and the barbels there longer.

[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Dec.–Feb.; Fruiting: Jan.–May.

 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1925: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Edition 2. Government Printer, Wellington.
Connor, H.E.; Edgar, E. 1987: Name changes in the indigenous New Zealand flora, 1960–1986 and Nomina Nova IV, 1983–1986. New Zealand Journal of Botany 25: 115–170.
de Lange, P.J.; Gosden, J.; Courtney, S.P.; Fergus, A.J.; Barkla, J.W.; Beadel, S.M.; Champion, P.D., Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Makan, T.; Michel, P. 2024: Conservation status of vascular plants in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2023. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 43. [Not threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Not Threatened]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Heenan, P.B.; Molloy, B.P.J. 2023: Recognition of Pachystegia hesperia sp. nov. and notes on P. insignis, P. minor and P. rufa (Asteraceae: Astereae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 61(2-3): 158–176. (Published online: 2022 (https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2022.2107939))
Saldivia, P.; Nicol, D.A. 2025: Reinstatement, broader circumscription, and infrageneric classification of Shawia (Astereae, Celmisiinae), a large woody genus endemic to Australasia. Phytoneuron 2025-49: 1–43 (online). (Published online: 11 September 2025)