Class
Order
Family
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Aciphylla congesta Cheeseman, Trans. & Proc. New Zealand Inst. 47: 44 (1914)
Synonymy:
Lectotype (designated by Oliver 1956): Mount Balloon, head of Clutha Valley, FR [FG] Gibbs s.n., Jan. 1914, AK 6529; Isolectotypes: AK 6530, 6531, 6532, 6535; Residual syntypes: Mount Balloon, McKinnon’s [McKinnon] Pass, FR [FG] Gibbs s.n., Jan. 1914, AK 6534; Mount Balloon, McKinnon’s Pass, FR [FG] Gibbs 511, no date. AK 6528; Mount Balloon, FG Gibbs s.n., no date. AK 6533; Mount Balloon, McKinnon’s Pass, FG Gibbs s.n., no date, K K000685223; McKinnon’s Pass, FG Gibbs s.n., no date, CHR 92905; Note: CHR 118646 is likely also original material, being from the herbarium of FG Gibbs, but it is without collecting location or date.
Description
Stock multicipital, plant forming compact masses of rosettes up to 3 dm. diam. Lvs rather soft, striate; sheaths thin, with hyaline margins, c. 6 cm. long, tapering from 2 cm. to 7 mm,; stipules c. 6·5 cm. × 5 mm., linear-oblong, abruptly narrowed to acicular tip; petioles flat, up to c. 8 mm. long, sts obsolete; internodes us. evident, up to 10 mm. long. Primary pinnae 2–3 paris, up to ± 6 cm. × 5 mm., abruptly narrowed to pungent apex. Male stems stout, up to 3 dm. × ± 15 mm. Bracts ± 5 cm. long; sheaths broad, up to c. 2.5 × 1·5 cm. Stipules and lamina lflike. Umbels 6–12, close-set, forming a globose head up to ± 12 cm. diam. Primary rays stout, ± 4 cm. long, ± whorled and subtended by whorl of bracts. Umbellules several, crowded, up to 2 cm. diam., on ∞ slender rays ± 5 mm. long. Female stems stout, up to ± 3 dm. tall including infl. up to 15 cm. diam. Primary rays stout, grooved, ± 6 cm. × 3 mm. Involucral bracts whorled; sheaths ± 10 × 7 mm., submembr.; stipules and lamina lflike, up to 4 cm. long. Umbellules ± 3 cm. diam., rays ∞ fls crowded. Fr. ± 4–5 mm. long; mericarps 4–5-winged.
[From: Allan (1961) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 1.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1914: Notes on Aciphylla, with descriptions of new species. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 47: 39–44.
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.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Naturally uncommon]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
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. [Naturally Uncommon]
Perrie, L.R.; Glenny, D.S.; Shepherd, L.D. 2025: Taxonomic synopsis of Aciphylla (Apiaceae): accepted species, nomenclature, and hybridisation. New Zealand Journal of Botany: 1–41 (online) . (Published online: 21 May 2025 https://doi.org/10.1080/0028825X.2025.2498442)
