Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Centrolepis pallida (Hook.f.) Cheeseman, Man. New Zealand Fl. 757 (1906)
Synonymy:
  • Gaimardia pallida Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. I. (Fl. Antarct.) Part I, 86 (1844)
  • Alepyrum pallidum (Hook.f.) Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 268, t. 62 C (1853)
  • Pseudalepyrum pallidum (Hook.f.) Dandy, J. Bot. 70: 331 (1932)
Lectotype: (selected by E. Edgar 1970) Campbell Isld., J.D. Hooker 1622, K 340075!
  • = Centrolepis minima Kirk, Trans. New Zealand Inst. 23: 441 (1891)
  • Pseudalepyrum minimum (Kirk) Dandy, J. Bot. 70: 331 (1932)
Lectotype: (selected by E. Edgar 1970) Lake Brunner, T. Kirk s.n., Mar 1885, WELT 16318!, isolectotypes AK 2892! K 843390!
Etymology:
From Latin pallidus (pale), a reference to the pale coloured tufts.
 Description

Perennial cushion, 8–45 mm high. Stems ascending, branching. Leaves distichous, cauline and imbricate, weakly spreading to erect. Leaf-sheath 2.8–6.5 mm long, scariose, glabrous. Leaf-sheath auricles absent; aligulate. Leaf-lamina 1.5–5.5 × 0.3–0.8 mm, ensiform to subulate, with an acute or acuminate apex, terete to compressed, glabrous. Uppermost leaf normal. Flowering stems 2–11 mm long, glabrous. Inflorescence an ovoid spike, 3.2–6 × 0.8–1.5 mm. Outer primary floral bract 3.3–6.0 mm long, ovate and often narrowing to a short foliar point; papillate. Inner floral bract, 2.4–4.7 mm long, ovate occasionally mucronate; papillate. Internode between primary bracts absent. Secondary hyaline scales absent. Reproductive units/spike (1)- 2–(4), one bisexual (occ. 2) the other(s) female. Androecium 1–(2) stamen; filament capillary, 2–15 mm long; anthers ellipsoid, 1.4–2.4 mm long. Gynoecium 2–4–(5) connate, superposed carpels. Styles stigmatic with simple papillae, crimson. Seeds 0.56–0.7 × 0.32–0.4 mm, obovoid, red-brown, smooth.

 Recognition

Distinguished from C. glabra by a cushion habit and a distinctly distichous arrangement of leaves, whereas C. glabra forms singular tufts and the leaf arrangement appears radical. Also, a normal leaf subtends the flowering stem in C. pallida, not a membranous cataphyll as in C. glabra. Distinguished from C.ciliata by being completely glabrous and the absence of secondary hyaline scales within the primary floral bracts.

 Distribution

North Island: Volcanic Plateau, northern Ruahine Range.

South Island: West Nelson, Westland, Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Fiordland (rare in Westland and Canterbury).

Stewart Island, Auckland Islands, Campbell Island.

 Habitat

Subalpine to alpine bogs, flushes, turfs, tarns and stream margins to 1890 m a.s.l., often on the flat tops of hills in bogs, but common on the sandy and rocky shores of the southern South Island glacial lakes (sometimes submerged below the waterline); descending to sea level in the southern South Island (Sandy Point) and Stewart Island (Masons Bay).

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Dec.-Jan.

 Notes

Some populations of predominantly aquatic cushions are often reddish green, have longer subulate leaves and more reproductive units/spike, 3 rather than 2. Such populations have been recorded in Southland in Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau, and in Green Lake.

 Bibliography
Cheeseman, T.F. 1906: Manual of the New Zealand Flora. Government Printer, Wellington.
Dandy, J.E. 1932: Pseudalepyrum Dandy. Journal of Botany, British and Foreign 70: 330–331.
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. [as Centrolepis minima Kirk] [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. [as Centrolepis minima Kirk]
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; Not Threatened]
Ford, K.A. 2014: Centrolepidaceae. In: Breitwieser, I.; Brownsey, P.J.; Heenan, P.B.; Wilton, A.D. (ed.) Flora of New Zealand — Seed Plants. Fascicle 2. Manaaki Whenua Press, Lincoln.
Ford, K.A. 2014: Taxonomic notes on the New Zealand flora: a new species of Centrolepis for New Zealand, Centrolepis glabra (F.Muell. ex Sonder) Hieron., and the taxonomic status of Centrolepis minima Kirk (Centrolepidaceae). New Zealand Journal of Botany 52(2): 262–266.
Hooker, J.D. 1844–1845: The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. I. Flora Antarctica. Part I. Botany of Lord Auckland’s Group and Campbell’s Island. Reeve, Brothers, London.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Johnson, P.N.; Brooke, P. A. 1989: Wetland Plants in New Zealand. DSIR Publishing, Wellington.
Kirk, T. 1891: Description of a New Species of Centrolepis, Labill. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 23: 441–443.