- = Celmisia insignis var. dura G.Simpson & J.S.Thomson, Trans. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 73: 169 (1943)
Woody-based perennial herb arising from a multicipital stock. Leaf lamina linear, rigid but recurved, 5-15 cm × 3-5 mm; upper surface grooved, dark green, clad in a thick pellicle which becomes golden on drying; lower surface clad in thick appressed white tomentum, midrib prominent; margins entire, often revolute. Sheath 3-6 cm long, membranous, yellow-orange and clad in a thin pellicle. Scape 10-15 cm × 2-3 mm, bracts few. Involucral bracts erect, linear-oblong to subulate, acute, up to 12 mm long, inner narrower than outer; margins fringed with long white hairs, particularly near the base; surface almost glabrous; venation simple. Receptacle obconic, upper surface alveolate. Ray florets up to 2 cm long, limb linear and glabrous, tube narrow with a few eglandular hairs near top. In disc florets, corolla tube gradually narrowed from apex to base, glabrous or sparsely hairy with long biseriate hairs; stamen tip acute, anther tails short; style bifid, the arms differentiated into a lower parallel-sided papillose portion and an upper short-triangular portion bearing short collecting hairs. Pappus bristles unequal, up to 4 mm long, with closely spaced short teeth. Achene 2-3 × 0.5 mm, fusiform, compressed, strongly ribbed and clad in bifid hairs.
[Reproduced from Given (1969, New Zealand J. Bot. 7: 389–399) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]