Puatea / Cudweed

Botanical name: Anaphalioides trinervis
Synonyms: Anaphalis keriensis, Anaphalis trinervis, Gnaphalium keriense
Common name(s): Puatea, Cudweed

Plant facts:
A resilient trailing New Zealand native everlasting herb valued for its soft silvery-green foliage and clusters of small papery white flowers. This adaptable species naturally forms spreading mats or cascading curtains over damp banks, rock faces and stream edges, making it an attractive native groundcover for moist shaded gardens.

Natural habitat:
Occurs naturally along stream margins, damp forest floors, waterfalls, seepages, shaded banks, rocky outcrops and moist gullies in lowland to montane habitats.

Growing environment:
Shade, Semi-shade, Moist soil, Humidity & Free draining tolerant.
Thrives in cool damp environments with reliable moisture and protection from prolonged drought.

Endemic distribution:
Endemic to New Zealand.
Widespread through much of the North Island and western regions of the South Island.

Height:
Flowering stems approximately 10–15 cm tall

Spread:
Trailing stems may spread or hang up to 1.5 m long

Growth habit:
A creeping, trailing or hanging perennial herb forming loose mats and cascading growth over banks and rocks.

Leaves:
Leaves narrow-obovate to lanceolate with three distinct veins, green above and sometimes softly textured beneath.

Flowers:
Small papery everlasting flower heads with white outer bracts surrounding yellow centres, borne in clustered inflorescences above the foliage.

Flower colours:
White, Yellow

Flowering:
Spring to summer

Fruiting:
Produces small wind-dispersed cypselae following flowering.

Ecology:
An important component of moist riparian and forest-edge habitats where it stabilises soil and colonises damp open ground. Seeds are dispersed by wind using fine pappus hairs.

Uses:

• Damp native groundcover
• Streamside planting
• Waterfall and seepage gardens
• Hanging baskets and walls
• Rock gardens
• Moist woodland planting
• Native erosion control

Appearance:

Growth form:
Forms prostrate or cascading stems that root intermittently along the branches.

Leaves:
Bright green, narrow to broad obovate leaves arranged along trailing stems, often held at outward angles.

Flowers:
Clusters of delicate everlasting daisy flowers with papery white bracts and yellow centres held on slender hairy stems.

Stems:
Trailing stems green toward the tips and occasionally rooting where they contact damp substrate.

How to grow:
Best grown in moist humus-rich free-draining soil in shade or semi-shade. Particularly effective planted beside streams, ponds, shaded retaining walls or allowed to spill naturally over rocks and embankments. Appreciates high humidity and consistent moisture but generally tolerates a wide range of light conditions provided it does not dry out completely. Easy to propagate from stem pieces that root readily where they contact soil.

Propagation:
Can be propagated from fresh seed, division or rooted stem fragments.

Garden value:
A graceful native everlasting ideal for softening damp shaded areas with its cascading foliage and delicate white flowers. Especially attractive in naturalistic native gardens, fern gullies and cool humid landscapes where it creates a lush forest-floor effect.