Art. XL.—Descriptions of a few new Indigenous Plants.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 15, 1882, Page 320

Art. XL.—Descriptions of a few new Indigenous Plants. By W. Colenso, F.L.S. (Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 9th October, 1882.) Class I. Dicotyledons. Order XXII.‡ The numbers here attached to both orders and genera are those of “The Handbook of the New Zealand Flora.” Leguminosæ. Genus 1. Carmichælia, Br. Carmichælia corrugata, sp. nov. An exceedingly small glabrous shrub, 2–3 inches high; branches leafless, 1–2 inches long, 1 line wide, mostly simple, rarely forked, flat, linear, obtuse, striated (almost ridged) and grooved longitudinally, slightly flexuous,

each branch bearing 4–5 alternate equidistant denticulations, each with a dry scarious ciliated bract. Flowers large, 3–4 lines long, purple with darker veins; standard pointleted; wings half the length of the standard; style bearded at tip; peduncle slender, 9–12 lines long, bibracteate, 1- (rarely 2-) flowered; bracts ciliated: pedicel 2 lines long, bracteolate at base; calyx large, broadly campanulate, more than 1 line wide, ciliate and hairy at margin, with 2 broad obtuse ciliated bracteoles adpressed at base; teeth very long: pod oblong-elliptic, 4–5 lines long (exclusive of beak), 1½-2 lines broad, turgid, corrugated on one suture (mostly the lower) with 8–9 thick closely formed wrinkles; beak straight, 1½ lines long: seeds rotund, 5 in a pod. Hob. Dry stony plains, Renwicktown, near Blenheim, South Island; Mr. F. Reader. This species, in its dwarf size and general appearance, resembles C. nana, but it differs widely from that species in its flower and pod; it is also not so robust a plant. In its peculiarly thick and wrinkled pod (whence its specific name) it differs from all the species of Carmichœlia known to me. Some of its short branches bear a flower from each notch or denticulation. Order XXXIX. compositæ. Genus 1. Olearia, Mœench. Olearia marginata, sp. nov. A robust shrub of low diffuse growth; branches, leaves, petioles, peduncles and heads of flowers thickly covered with tawny-yellowish wool: branchlets very stout, straight, smooth, and bare of leaves for 5–7 inches; leaves oblong, sub-obovate (sometimes roundish and narrow oblong), 2½–4½ inches long, 1½–2 inches broad, very stout, entire, very obtuse and emarginate, tapering towards base, sub-verticillate, 4–9 crowded together at ends of branchlets far apart, sometimes (but rarely) a single pair opposite; margined all round above the upper surface for ½ line wide with thick wool; midrib thick and flat towards base, and densely woolly for about 1 inch from petiole; veined; veins prominent, opposite and sub-opposite, diverging and parallel, apparent on both sides; veinlets anastomosing; the upper surface of old leaves glabrous, glossy, pale yellowish-green; petioles very stout, ¾-1½ inch long, channelled above, much dilated at base and sub-clasping; young leaves densely covered with coarse wool, at first their upper surface is ash-coloured, but with tawny-yellow under surface and margins: peduncle very stout, axillary and sub-terminal, 2½ inches long, 3 lines broad, of a uniform thickness throughout, compressed, channelled, soft flexible not woody, drooping, with 3–7 leafy half-clasping sessile and decurrent bracts below the head; head (alabastrus globular) 1–1¼ inch broad, densely

imbricated in 7–8 rows; outer scales large, broad-oblong, obtuse, and with peduncle clothed with lighter reddish-yellow wool; inner scales 6–7 lines long, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, acute, longitudinally ribbed, glossy within; receptacle convex, 10 lines broad, deeply and coarsely pitted; pits square, the alveolar-like ridges even, a little higher at the angles. Hab. Dry rocky hills, Renwicktown, near Blenheim, South Island. Mr. F. Reader. This is in many respects a remarkable species, and is certainly pretty closely allied naturally to O. insignis, Hook., to which South Island species (unknown by sight to me) I was at first inclined to assign it, mainly through my not having specimens with fully opened flowers, and from their having been gathered in the known neighbouring localities of that plant. I had, however, several large specimens in full leaf, and with unopened heads of flowers nearly mature; and also an old head of the former year, but without a single floret remaining. On closely examining my specimens, I found them to differ in so many important points (vide descrip., supra) from O. insignis, that I could hesitate no longer over them. Its very peculiar and curiously margined leaves, together with their being subverticillate and densely clothed with coarse matted, almost floccose, wool,—and the soft flexible nature of its stout compressed and bracteate peduncles (which softness and flexibility they still retain in their dried state),—are striking characters. In some particulars this plant has affinity with some of the Australian species of this genus. Order XXVII. Halorageæ. Genus 3. Gunnera, Linn. Gunnera strigosa, sp. nov. Plant low creeping, very diffuse, rooting at ends of runners and forming nodes, 2–6 inches apart; branches terete, hispid, coloured brown. Leaves upright and spreading, radical from nodes, 5–14 arising from a node, darkish-green, rough with minute whitish points, ¾ inch diameter, cordate, auricled, 5-nerved, which are each again forked at the tips with veinlets, anastomosing, nerves red-brown and very prominent below, 5–7-lobed, lobes crenate, mucronate; petioles ½-1¼ inch long, somewhat stout, channelled; strigose with flat adpressed linear white hairs, which are sub-acute and apiculate, and scattered on both sides, particularly on midrib and nerves petioles and runners, which are sometimes quite hoary with them. Flowers monœcious on long slender scapes (or peduncles), 3–4 inches long, 2–3 times longer than the leaves, 2–5 scapes to a plant or single node. Male flowers above in a simple spike sometimes occupying 5/6 of length of scape, produced alternately and distant; petals, 0; stamens, 2, sessile

or nearly so above, but pedicelled and diandrous below, the pedicels of these few lower ones 1–2 lines long, a little longer than the filaments, with an ovate-acuminate concave bract at their base, and a pair of minute bracteoles at the junction of the filaments with the pedicel; the upper ones also each having three small bracts at its base, one outer and two inner; bracts and bracteoles sparsely ciliated; anthers broadly cordate, apioulate, thick, dark-coloured. Female flowers produced below at base of scape, and for a short distance up it, those at and near the base subpaniculate and subcapitate on short branchlets each containing 3–5 flowers on very short pedicels, crowded; those few above on scape sessile or nearly so and distant, each flower bracteolate at base much as in the male flowers; ovaries, ovate, glabrous, their 2 calycine lobes bearing a few white strigose hairs; styles 2, very long, three times or more the length of ovary, subulate, spreading, densely hairy (pubescent-hirsute), hairs lightbrown, with some of the flat white strigose hairs scattered among them. Fruit, globular, about 1 line in diameter, glabrous, bright-red, bearing the two persistent calycine lobes of the ovary, which are divergent and black; drupes closely compacted into a head as big as a small cherry. Hab. On clay banks in forest between Norsewood and Danneverke, Hawke's Bay district, North Island, flowering in November, 1881–1882: W.C. Obs. I.—The broad white and flat hairs plentifully scattered over this plant attracts at first sight the eye of the observer; under a microscope they present a peculiar vermicular appearance. The pair of minute bracteoles at the base of the pedicelled filaments of the lower male flowers,—and also within the larger outer bract of the upper and sessile ones,—seem to supply the place of calyx, unless we consider the outer single and larger bract as such, and then those inner and smaller ones as petals. In two or three instances I have noticed a still larger single bracteole (resembling the outer bract) on one of the pedicelled stamens, immediately below the anther. Obs. II.—As a species this plant has pretty close affinity with G. monoica, Raoul; but, although monœcious like that species, is quite distinct; this is very clearly shown by comparison with his own full description with plate containing dissections, as given in his Choix de Plantes, p. 13, tab. 8. It is also allied to another New Zealand species, G. prorepens; to the only Tasmanian species, G. cordifolia; and to the Fuegian species, G. magellanica. Order XXXVI. Loranthaceæ Genus 1. Loranthus, Linn. Loranthus punctatus, sp. nov. A large bushy glabrous shrub, main stems 1–1½ inch in diameter. Branches terete, with light-grey bark filled with fine longitudinal cracks;

young branchlets semi-compressed, always dark red, very minutely roughish but not villous. Leaves opposite, decussate, distant, 6–8 lines apart, 1–1½ inch long, 6–8 lines broad, petiolate, broadly-lanceolate elliptic and subrhomboidal, obtuse, very coriaceous; colour a lively light green, both surfaces covered with very fine pale spots, midrib and veins obscure, primary veins opposite, veinlets reticulated, margins rough and coloured red with minute tubercles. Flowers light-vermillion red, single, suberect, expanding freely, 1¼ inch long, axillary on short stout peduncles. Calyx-tube conical, 2 lines long, limb very shallow, with 4 small teeth at the angles of the corolla. Corolla 4-angled at base and throughout two-thirds of its length, up to the insertion of the filaments, broadest at base, gradually contracted upwards, terete and swollen above. Petals somewhat linear, free, semitransparent, 2 lines broad at base, constricted at one-third of length from apex and there 1 line broad, obtuse and subspathulate at top, and grooved within for the anther. Filaments stout, flat. Anthers long, linear. Style very long, longer than anthers, straight. Stigma dark red, globular, slightly cleft, and finely papillose. Hab. Parasitical on Fagus solandri (and other trees), Forty-mile Bush, near Norsewood, Hawke's Bay district, North Island; flowering in November, 1876–1882: W.C. Obs. I.—This is a fine bushy species, very full of branches, leaves, and flowers. It extends 5–6 feet each way in front from the tree in which it grows, and sometimes runs 9–10 feet in length, clasping the tree right round in several places, and thus appearing as if it were composed of two or three separate plants. Its leaves are usually disfigured with small round and raised hard swellings, which lumps appear on both sides, always punctured on the one side; sometimes 2-6-8 on a single leaf, the work of some insect. Obs. II.—This plant has been long known to me, but, I fear, too often confounded with L. tetrapetalus (from my not having before seen it in its proper season of flowering, and through lack of close examination), to which species it is nearly allied, and in many respects closely resembles. Dissection, however, reveals its important differential characters, as given above. Order LIII. Scrophularineæ. Genus 7. Veronica, Linn. Veronica trisepala, sp. nov. Shrub small, glabrous, 2–3 feet high, with habit of V. buxifolia. Branchlats pubescent, transversely and regularly scarred 2 lines apart; hairs very thick and short, reddish, patent; bark light-reddish-brown. Leaves opposite, decussate, 4–8 lines long, 1½ line broad, glabrous, not shining, oblong-

lanceolate acute, sub-dimidiate, sub-falcate, entire with 2–3 cuts or slight notches on each side near apex, thickish, opaque, under a lens thickly studded with very minute white spots on the under surface, somewhat concave, veins obscure, midrib strong, not keeled, petiolate, petioles 1 line long, slender. Flowers, sub-terminal and sub-capitate in corymbs much longer than the leaves, on 2–6 axillary peduncles ½ inch long, peduncles and pedicels pubescent, each peduncle or rhachis bearing 6–8 branched-peduncles, each branched peduncle with 8–10 pedicels 1 line long, all bracteolate, bracteoles light-green, sessile, rather large, ovate-acuminate, obtuse and slightly ciliate. Sepals 3, about 1 line long, rather longer than tube, glabrous, very obtuse, margined, ciliate, upper sepal large and bifid. Corolla white with a faint tinge of light-blue, 4-lobed, spreading, 2½ lines long, 3 lines broad, lobes ovate, obtuse, tube under 1 line long. Stamens, filaments, and style equal, exserted, longer than corolla. Stigma simple. Anthers rather large, light-blue. Capsule (immature) 2 lines long, more than twice as long as the calyx, broadly elliptic, acute, flattish, glabrous, style persistent, long. Hab. On the north end of Te Kaweka mountain range, near Napier. Discovered by Mr. A. Hamilton, 1881. Obs.—This is another elegant shrubby species of this extensive genus, so well represented in New Zealand, and one that is so plainly distinct as not to be easily confounded with any other of our known and published species; its nearest relation is, I think, V. diosmœfolia, a tall slender northern species of widely different habit, and characters. I have little doubt of this plant becoming, also, a favourite in gardens. Class II. Monocotyledons. Order I. Orchideæ. Genus 1. Earina, Lindley. Earina quadrilobata, sp. nov. Plant, small, low, of densely compact growth. Flowering stems usually short and sometimes bare of leaves, erect and pendulous, 6–10 in. long, compressed, slender, woody, brittle, of a light brownish-white colour, irregularly blotched and spotted with black. Leaves sub-erect, narrow, linear, 2–3 in. long, 1½ line wide at broadest part near base, flat, acuminate, acute, alternate, distant, sessile, clasping, glabrous, sub-coriaceous, dark green, entire, margined with a white line which with the midrib are semi-translucent, peculiarly embossed or sub-keeled with a longitudinal impression (in alto) 2 lines long on midrib lower side, ⅓ in. from apex. Flowers distant, sub-distichous, nodding, in simple 5–6-flowered racemes or loose panicles, each scape bearing 3–4 slender and distant racemes, each flower bracteolate, bracteoles clasping, striated, obtuse with a point, or broadly sub-rhomboidal

with 3 teeth or points, the middle one being the largest and most produced,* This, however, is best seen on the maturation of the fruit, as the bracteole enlarges with it, and assumes a sub-calycine a cap-shaped form. usually an additional abortive flower arising from the uppermost bracteole; pedicels very short and slender included in the bracteoles; peduncle and sub-peduncles, 1–2 in. long, with 3 imbricated scarious bracts at base. Sepals and petals whitish with a primrose tint of yellow, membranaceous, nearly equal in length, 2 lines long; sepals erect obtuse, central one ovate, concave, margins entire, lateral obovate, margins irregularly and slightly jagged; petals a little larger than sepals, ovate-acuminate, obtuse, apiculate, sub-pellucid, strongly 1-nerved, slightly notched at margin; lip, sub-membranaceous, undulating and crisped, deflexed, 2 lines long, oblong-deltoid, 4-lobed, lobes sub-conniving, rotund, margins even, apices erose, sinuses broad, apex of lip deeply emarginate with a small central triangular recurved point or mucro (emarginatus cum acumine); colour, pure darkish-yellow (apricot colour), with a small blotch of purple-brown at base. Capsule, oblong, obtuse, 4 lines long, 1½ line broad, broadly ribbed and striated, glabrous, purple-brown; perianth persistent. Hab. Among and on rocky boulders of conglomerate, immediate base of the Ruahine mountain range, east side, plentifully, but not in flower, 1845, where it grew in dense patches like grass; also, on open stony acclivities in sub-alpine forests, and epiphytical on trees, near Norsewood, district of Hawke's Bay, 1878–1881; flowering in November: W.C. Heights of Mount Kaweka, near Napier, 1882: Mr. A. Hamilton. A species having close affinity with E. mucronata, but it is a much smaller and more graceful plant, with fewer and differently formed flowers. Genus 2. Dendrobium, Linn. Dendrobium lessonii, sp. nov. Plant epiphytal and terrestrial; an erect and pendulous, diffuse slender shrub, often much-branched; branches 6 inches to 4 feet long, wiry, terete, hard, and brittle; main stems ⅓ of an inch in diameter; colour of stems and branches, some darkish-umber-brown, and some bright yellow, glossy and horny, ringed with dark scar-like joints, ½-1 inch apart, under the dry scarious sheathing leaf-bracts, which long remain. Leaves, alternate, ¾-1¼ inch long, 1–2 lines broad, 3–6 lines apart, sub-linear-lanceolate, or sub-ovate-acuminate, broadest near base, sessile, spreading, often falcate and twisted, coriaceous, semi-rigid, smooth not glossy, pale or yellowish green, margins entire, obscurely 10-nerved, midrib sunk and obsolete, somewhat concave, suddenly slightly thickened on the under side 1–3 lines from apex, with a slight corresponding notch in each side, tip obtuse, vaginant, sheaths

truncate, longitudinally and regularly striated, and finely corrugated transversely. Flowers, white, membranaceous, few, scattered, usually 2 (sometimes only 1, very rarely 3) in a short loose raceme on a stoutish erect peduncle shorter than the leaves, always bursting at a right angle from the internode in the branchlet, and generally alternating with the leaves, never axillary nor opposite to a leaf; peduncle glabrous, shining, with 2–3 rather distant sheathing bracts, truncate and obtuse; pedicels, 2–3 lines long, bracteoles sheathing, acute; perianth nearly 1 inch in diameter, open, expanding, segments of equal lengths; sepals, ovate-acuminate, 5-nerved, margins entire, upper one the smallest, the 2 lateral ones with a very small round spur at their base; petals recurved, oblong-ovate, obtuse, with a minute point, margins also entire; labellum 3-lobed, the 2 lateral lobes small, oblong, obtuse, conniving, margins finely notched; middle lobe large, longer than broad, veined, sub-rotund (or sub-panduriform or broadly obovate), apiculate, margin sub-crenulate with a slight notch on each side, sides conniving, and 4 longitudinal elevated and shining green (or yellow-green), lamellæ near the base, which are bluntly toothed or crested; column slightly winged near apex, light green; pollen masses yellow. Ovary, 2–3 lines long, green, shining, obscurely striate. Hab. In forests, Norsewood, Hawke's Bay district, North Island, high up in the forks of pine trees (Podocarpus spicata), and sometimes on the ground in dry stony hills under Fagus trees, flowering in November; 1879–1882; also among rocks near the sea at Cape Turakirae (the south head of Palliser Bay), 1845–6: W.C. Obs. I.—The main branches of this plant are often very regular and spread out flat, bearing a bi-tri-pinnate frond-like appearance, from the side branchlets of equal length springing at about equal distances from the main stem; a few leaves on stout and strong young shoots are 1¾ inch long and 2¼ lines broad; the branchlets and peduncles shoot alike erumpent at right-angles with the stem. Although I have (rarely) seen a raceme bearing 3 flower-buds, I have never seen one with all three open, the upper one seemed to be abortive; which is also often the case when there are but 2. In some flowers (on the same plant) the 2 lateral lobes and the extreme base of the middle lobe of the labellum, the throat and column, are dark pink; in a few others the same parts are slightly speckled with pink. Obs. II.—I have long known this plant, and, though I early obtained specimens with a few unopened immature flowers from the rocks at Palliser Bay in 1845, and subsequently assiduously sought for good flowering specimens, I never detected any such until 1881, when my long previous suspicions of its proving to be distinct from the northern form (D, cunninghamii) were fully confirmed—I having well known and very often admired

and gathered that elegant species in its native forests, where it is often to be met with. There is much however at first sight, and with only immature flowering specimens, to confound this species with that plant; indeed, it is only by careful examination of several fresh specimens, dissection and comparison, that their specific differences are perceived, which are chiefly in the labellum, its form and the number and size of its lamellæ (which in D. cunninghamii are always 5); the colour, too, of its flowers is widely different, these are also smaller and much fewer in number, usually only 2 on a peduncle, and never assume the panicle form; and also its dwarf terrestrial habit. Obs. III.—I believe this plant to be identical with the D. biflorum of A. Richard, which was originally discovered by Lesson, the naturalist of the French expedition under D'Urville, in Tasman's Bay, Cook Straits, in 1827, and published by Lesson and Richard, with a very full description and a folio plate, in 1832; and, therefore, I have great pleasure in naming it after its original discoverer. That New Zealand species, however, was confounded by them with D. biflorum of Swartz, (then a very little known species, discovered by G. Forster when with Captain Cook in the Society Islands), which species, though very nearly allied, bears only two lamellæ on its labellum. On R. Cunningham re-discovering* It is said to have been originally discovered by Banks and Solander in 1769. the Northern New Zealand plant, (which now bears his name,) it was described by Lindley with a plate,† Botanical Register, tab. 1756. as being quite distinct from the D. biflorum of Swartz. Lindley, however, believed Richard's New Zealand South Island plant to be identical with Cunningham's North Island one, D. cunninghamii. And I think that Sir J. D. Hooker, subsequently adopting Dr. Lindley's opinion, also believed Richard's South Island plant to be the same as our Northern one; which it certainly closely resembles at first sight in many particulars, although Richard's life-size plate with dissections shows a difference, particularly in its 4-crested labellum. Genus 12. Pterostylis, Br. Pterostylis emarginata, sp. nov. Stem stout (nearly as thick as a goose-quill), erect, reddish (light brickred), 10–16 in. high, 3–4 scarious bracts below, leafy in the upper half; lexves 6 in number, membranous, glabrous, shining, slightly spreading, alternate, 5–7 in. long, ½ in. broad, linear-acuminate, obscurely 2-nerved longitudinally, a little shorter than the flower, sessile, vaginant, very stoutly keeled, midrib thick 1 line wide, reddish. Flower membranaceous, striped white and green, rather large, 2–2¼ in. long including tails of sepals but excluding ovary, erect, lower lip of perianth ascending, ½ in. broad below

furcation, ending in two long and fine red tails 1¼ in. long, dorsal sepal with a very long red caudate apex much longer than the petals, and but a little shorter than those of the lower lip; petals somewhat falcate with a sharply produced abrupt angle on the upper edge, shortly acuminate and red-tipped, but without tails; labellum included, or but slightly exserted, oblong, emarginate, deflexed, 7 lines long, 3 lines broad, glabrous, membranous below and thickest at tip, striped green and white longitudinally with a dark red central line running towards tip, and there ending in a thick red callus not extending to margin; appendix more than 2 lines long, curved upwards, flat, bifid, and rather largely fimbriate (not villous), fimbriæ penicillate at tips; column taller than lip, wings large, each produced upwards in a long erect subulate point at the front angle, and downwards in an oblong auricle finely ciliated on the inner margins, white with a green transverse band. Ovary large, 11–1¼ in. long, sub-cylindrical, green, strongly 6-ribbed. Tuber large, white, rotund but much pitted and irregular, nearly an inch in diameter, resembling a very small and young round potato; rootlets several and stout, some proceeding from the stem 2 in. above the base. Hab. In low forests, banks of streams descending from the east flank of Te Ruahine Mountain Range, 1847–1852; W. C.: also, in the forest at Te Aute, 1882; Mr. C. P. Winkelmann: and also in the forests at Hampden, 1882; Mr. S. W. Hardy: all localities in the Hawke's Bay district, North Island. Obs. I.—A truly fine species having affinity with Pt, banksii (and long overlooked as belonging to it), but differing from that species in several important particulars—such as “Pt. banksii—leaves numerous, produced much beyond the flowers, narrow, grassy; lip linear narrow; sepals and petals produced into very long filiform tails”—Flora N.Z.: and “labelli lamina obtusa”—Brown, Lindley, Cunningham, etc., etc. Obs. II.—The whole of this truly natural genus, as represented in New Zealand, wants skilful revision from living specimens, or from good floral specimens preserved in spirits; particularly with reference to the formation, etc., of the delicate wings of the column, which vary in the different species; and which, while well worked-up by Sir J. D. Hooker in his Flora Tasmaniæ (and subsequently by Bentham in his Flora Australiensis), seems to have been overlooked in both the Flora N.Z., and the more modern “Handbook.” Order II. Ibideæ. Genus 1. Libertia, Sprengel. Libertia orbicularis, sp. nov. Rhizome and leafy base of stem very short; leaves almost radical, suberect, membranaceous somewhat sub-rigid in age, narrow linear-acuminate,

10–15 inches long, ¼ inch broad, margined white, many-nerved, finely serrulate at tips. Scape, stout, erect, 12–22 inches long, 1½ line in diameter, closely marked throughout (together with panicle and bases of ovaries) with very fine and small longitudinal red lines, bracteated with 2 foliaceous bracts nearly equidistant, lowest bract 5–7 inches long, margins of bracts finely serrulated at tips. Panicle, loose, 5 inches long, bearing 12–18 flowers, disposed in distant sub-corymbose sub-panicles of 2–5 flowers, bracts ovate acuminate; pedicels ½ inch long, each with a small scarious bracteole at base. Perianth, ¾ inch diameter; petals white orbicular, 4 lines diameter, retuse at apex, unguiculate with a very narrow unguis, spreading, slightly concave; sepals 2 lines long, elliptic, obtuse, tufted at apex with a few small spreading hairs, concave, coloured green and pink on the outside; stamens stout, connate with styles about 1 line from the base; anthers, oblong-ovate, obtuse, yellow; styles flat, slightly channelled, spreading; stigmas, minutely penicillate. Ovary (immature) 5 lines long, triquetrous, broadly obovate, truncate at apex. Seeds (mature) globular, very slightly and minutely pitted. Hab. Dry sides of stony hills, margins of forests, between Norsewood and Danneverke, Hawke's Bay district, North Island; flowering in November; W. C.: and, at Pohue, high hills near Petane, Napier; Mr. A. Hamilton. A species having pretty close affinity with L. ixioides and L. grandiflora, but differing in its truly orbicular petals, tufted sepals, pencilled stigmas, globular seeds, and finely serrulate bracts and leaves; it also has affinity with the Australian species L. paniculata. Order VII. Liliaceæ. Genus 3. Cordyline, Comm. Cordyline diffusa, sp. nov. A large tufted diffuse herb. Leaves suberect and drooping, 4 feet 3 inches—4 feet 6 inches long (including petiole), 2½ inches broad, lanceolate, acute, margins entire, flat or slightly revolute, striated, many-nerved (40 each side of midribs), veins oblique, subcoriaceous, glabrous, midrib very stout, white, wide and flat on the upper surface, green round and very prominent on the lower, and vanishing several inches below apex, when young membranaceous and of a pleasing green, but yellowish-green when old and much torn at the tips; petiole 8 inches long from base of contraction of the blade, very stout and clasping. Scape very stout 2½ inches in circumference, somewhat triquetrous at base, angular and channelled above, smooth. Panicle (several from same plant) suberect and drooping, 4 feet long, including scape which is 6–7 inches long to lowest branchlet), very loose lax and diffuse, broadly ovate in outline, composed of several scattered and alternate subpanicles, 18–20 inches long,

and 8, 6, 4 inches apart, each with a large foliaceous bract at its base, the lowermost bract being 2 feet 6 inches long. Flowers (unexpanded) on very short pedicels almost sessile, scattered on the upper parts of the simple and distant filiform and subflaccid branchlets, which are 3–7 inches long, (no flowers on their lower portions save one, sometimes two, in the axil of the branchlet), crowded towards the tips in spike form, apparently small, three lines long, white tinged with blue on the outside of perianth at tips, segments nearly equal, linear-oblong, concave, obtuse and incurved at apices. Style one line long, stoutish, somewhat channelled towards apex; stigma trifid, spreading, each tip slightly bifid and papillose. Filaments stout, short. Anthers yellow, long linear obtuse. Three scariose bracteoles at base of pedicel, the lowermost two lines long, nearly the length of the unexpanded flower, deltoid-acuminate, strongly one-nerved, the intermediate one small and often nerveless, and the upper one also small and one-nerved, nerves brown; sometimes the middle and upper bracteoles are united, and then they form one broad bicuspidate bracteole. Ovary (immature) glabrous, subrotund, slightly angled, many-seeded. Hab. On cliffy exposed edges, dry hilly forests between Norsewood and Danneverke, Hawke's Bay district, North Island, 1881–1882; flowering in November: W.C. Obs.—This plant grows in large clumps, much like the larger terrestrial. Astelia (e.g. A. fragrans, mihi, infra), and the narrow-leaved species of Phormium (P. colensoi). It seems to have close affinity with C. banksii, (originally detected by me in the neighbouring forests), but is not arboreous like that species; as well as with C. pumilio, in the free disposition of its panicle and its herbaceous habit. Cordyline sturmii, sp. nov. Plant arboreous, 14–15 feet high, diameter of trunk at base 8 inches; bark—of lower trunk brownish and slightly rough and cracked,—of branches grey, smoothish, with darker regular markings from scars of fallen leaves, but not rough; branched at top in 3 long erect branches. Leaves very closely set and numerous, squarrose, broadly-lanceolate, acute, sessile, 2 feet 6 inches long, 4 inches broad at the middle, sub-membranaceous, tender, easily broken and torn by the winds, etc., margins entire, flat, slightly sub-revolute, apices of young leaves tightly rolled upwards (in-curved), wholly green on both surfaces, obliquely closely and regularly nerved, midrib O, nerved over the place of midrib on the upper surface by fine longitudinal nerves, finely sub-striate, the blade decurrent gradually to the base, with no apparent petiole, and there 1 inch wide at the narrowest, and 1½ inch at the extreme base, which is dilated, thick, half-clasping and sub-articulated. Flowers in a sub-terminal compact thyrsoid-panicle, 20 inches long, 9 inches

broad, oblong, obtuse; rhachis and main branchlets stout, angled and channelled, glabrous, dark green, length of flowering stem below the flowers 5 inches, and 2½ inches in circumference, triquetrous, flat on top, sub-succulent not woody; sub-panicles rather distant on rhachis, not crowded, erect, alternate, disposed in a tristichous manner, each 6–9 inches long, axial branchlet always much the longest; bracts at bases of sub-panicles foliaceous, lowest 6½ inches long, 1 inch broad at the middle, ovate-acuminate, acute; bracteoles within bract at base of branchlet, short, broadly deltoid, acute, extending and sub-clasping around the base, closely including the 2–3 flowers there. Flowers numerous throughout on all the branches but not crowded, generally 3 together at lowest angle of junction of branchlet, 1 on each side and 1 above. Flowers, short pedicels, and very small floral bracteoles wholly white; pedicels bi-bracteolate; bracteoles very small, nerveless, less than a line long, the lower one deltoid acute, the upper somewhat cup-shaped and surrounding the pedicel on three sides, the margin irregular mostly with two small teeth or points. Perianth with a very slight greenish tinge on the outside before unfolding, 5 lines diameter, stellate; segments nearly equal, thickish, linear, obtuse, scarcely 2 lines long; sepals recurved; anthers linear, obtuse, small; filaments stout flat, linear, acute; style stoutish, cylindrical, slightly flexuose; stigma trifid; flowers fragrant. Fruit (ripe, of last year) reddish, glabrous, shining, bearing the persistent remains of the perianth, sub-globose, depressed at top, tri-lobed, 3 lines in diameter, each cell containing several (4–6) black, glossy, sub-reniform, sharply-angled and closely-packed seeds. Hab. Forests, in the mountainous interior, near Lake Waikare, North Island. Obs.—This fine new species of Cordyline, I may say, I have long known; and I ought to have described and published it before, having had ample living specimens, both flowering and fruiting, at command, in the nurseries of Mr. Stcurm, at Clive, who, many years ago, brought the seeds of it from the mountain forests, and from them raised the plants in his gardens, where they have attained to a great height, if not to their full size. This description is mainly drawn up from plants of his own raising, aided by a young one of a few years old in my own garden, for the apices, etc., of the leaves, which in the larger plants are very rarely unbroken and torn. It is very distinct from any of our described New Zealand species of this genus, also from all other (known) published ones. A flowering panicle presents a fine sight, from the thick, solid, firm, and waxy appearance of its numerous white flowers, pedicels, and floral bracts, heightened by the dark-green back-ground of their stout glabrous branches. The leaves of this plant are very much broader and thinner than those of O. australis, and are, also, not

so erect above and drooping below, and present a much more squarrose and bulky appearance. Mr. Sturm very kindly brought me a large flowering branch from his tree, that I might have good specimens for examination and drying; I regret, however, that while it has some hundreds of leaves (a perfect crown) there is not one sound unbroken leaf among them! The stem portion of this branch brought to me is 2 feet long, 5 inches in circumference at the lower end, and 6 inches a little below the leaves; it is perfectly cylindrical and semi-succulent (something like a large and long cabbage stump), not woody, and has a smooth mottled ring, as described above; this branch was taken from the trunk lower down. Mr. Sturm further informs me that the said parent tree has annually for several years past produced one erect flowering panicle similar to this one (supra), only a little larger, and that the tree is now giving out several young branches (shoots) from above under its leaves, and also shoots from its trunk in various places; much after the manner of the other arboreous species of our New Zealand Cordylines. I have very great pleasure in naming this plant after Mr. F. W. C. Sturm, its discoverer and fortunate raiser, who honourably deserves it; Mr. Sturm is a well-known botanist and very early energetic settler here on the East Coast and at Hawke's Bay. Order VII. Liliaceæ. Genus 5. Astelia, Banks and Solander. Astelia fragrans, sp. nov. Plant terrestrial, large, robust, bushy, spreading, suberect, and slightly drooping at tops. Leaves linear-lanceolate, very acuminate, 6½ feet long, 2 inches broad about the middle, margins flat, entire, keeled, thickish (particularly at the main nerves), subrigid, glabrous on both surfaces, with a slight adpressed white scurf below, and some long loose white hairs at the bases, many-nerved, with 2 strong and thick equidistant red nerves or ribs more than 1 line wide running throughout, very stout, and largely prominent on both sides; colour light-green (and in age yellow-green), soon splitting and decaying at tips. Flowers in a panicle, dark green shining with purple segments, very fragrant, completely hidden among the leaves. Male: scape 2 feet long, very stout, triquetrous, 3 inches in circumference, erect, 9 inches to first branch of panicle, shaggy at base, with loose white hairs, ¾ inch long, flat, membranaceous and longitudinally veined, clothed above with adpressed matted hairs; panicle stout, open, subpanicles alternate, lowest with 7 branchlets, next 6, next 5, and so on, everywhere dotted with minute purple dots, which extend to pedicels and perianth. Flowers numerous, 6–7 lines diameter; on short stout bracteolate pedicels, scattered on angled and loosely-shaggy racemose spikes, 3–7 inches long; bracteoles

on the tops of the spikes (in both m. and f.), much longer than their flowers; lobes of perianth closely reflexed to pedicel, large, ovate-oblong, obtuse, 2½ lines long, purple, finely striate, glabrous, slightly scurfy on the out-side; filaments robust, 2 lines long, stellate, patent, white, succulent; anthers oblong, dark brown; bracts of subpanicles very large and spathe-like, ovate-acuminate, the lowermost 40 inches long, and 3 inches wide at base, largely ribbed and veined as in leaves, also thickly coloured with minute purple dots, making them to appear wholly purple at their bases, and closely clothed below on both sides with soft adpreased white hairs; panicle and scape weighing 17 ounces. Female: scape 15 inches long, erect and stout as in male, 6 inches to lowermost subpanicle, which, however, contains but 6 branchlets, and so on decreasingly with the others; panicle shorter and more compact than in male (more thyrse-like), branchlets much shorter, subcompressed and less villous, almost quite glabrous, shining and wearing a subpapillose appearance, whole colour, including ovaries, a very dark green; segments of perianth very small, deltoid, obtuse, recurved, purple and striate as in male, the three outer larger than the three inner and imbricating at bases; ovary subrotund, ⅓ exserted, shining, slightly angular; style none; stigmas 3, large, distinct, orbicular, sessile, papillose; barren anthers very small, only just appearing at bases of segments; bracteoles purple and longer than in male; the whole female scape weighs 14 ounces, with ovaries immature. Hab. In low wet boggy grounds, and on dry shady hillsides, in open parts of the forest near Norsewood, Hawke's Bay district, North Island, 1876–1882; flowering October and November: W.C. Obs.—This fine plant has been long known to me in its general appearance, having often seen it; but never until this year did I obtain good flowering specimens. The flowers, however, are completely concealed within its thickly set and long bushy leaves; in this respect differing from most of the other known species of this genus. Their fragrant honey-like smell (of both m. and f.) is very pleasing and lasting, and no doubt serves to draw the smaller insects to them. Order XI. Cyperaceæ. Genus 13. Uncinia, Persoon. Uncinia horizontalis, sp. nov. Culms 10–12 inches long, slender, smooth, triquetrous. Leaves numerous shorter than the culms, 9–10 inches long, 1 line broad, flat, margins scabrid, tips obtuse. Spikelets 1–1½ inch long, 2 lines broad, tristichous, upper 3–4 lines male; bract, 4–7 inches long, foliaceous, very narrow (almost filiform), canaliculated and nerved, margins scabrid, with very fine longitudinal scaberulous rows running below on the nerves. Glumes 8 lines long,

lax, ovate-acuminate, keeled, with a green longitudinal stripe down the centre (afterwards brown), slightly transversely wrinkled, margins white chaffy. Utricle smooth, as long as the glume, ovate-acuminate, 3-nerved, swollen in the middle; bristle, excurved, twice as long as the glume, light-brown. Hab. In Fagus woods, Norsewood, Hawke's Bay district, North Island; flowering early in November, 1881: W.C. Obs.—Plant wholly light green and very cæspitose, but spreading out flat in a circle, with the culms beyond the leaves. Uncinia alopecuroides, sp. nov. Plant, 2 feet 6 inches high, much branched at base, ascending, diffuse. Culms, 11–12 inches high, smooth, erect, leafy throughout with 4–5 leaves, trigonous (or multangular) with 3 raised longitudinal lines on each face. Leaves much longer than the culms, 1 foot 9 inches—2 feet long, 2 lines wide at widest part near base, linear, grass-like, flat, flaccid, very acuminate, dark green, nerved, striated, keeled, serrulate at margins, and finely and regularly scabrid on lines of nerves on both surfaces and on the midrib below, channelled towards tips, which are somewhat dilated and obtuse and thickly serrulated, at the base is a small broad sub-rotund bifid ligula; the short leaf-like bracts at the bases of the stems and the sheathing bases of the leaves are dark brown and regularly striated, the striæ broad and flat. Spikelet long, slender, terete, acuminate, 5½ inches long, the upper male portion 1¾ inch long, closely imbricated but less so at the base; bract of various lengths 1–5½ inches long, filiform, obtuse, 1-nerved, scabrid at edges and at the obtuse tip. Glumes narrow-linear-ovate, 2½ lines long, nerved, pale with a green central stripe, somewhat glossy, margins chaffy, tip membranaceous obtuse, white, with two brown crescent-like transverse bars, or bands, just below it. Utricle slender, lanceolate-acuminate, length of glume, pale, smooth; bristle longer than utricle, slender, pale, excurved. Stamens and anthers very long, linear. Styles spreading very rough (setose-like). Hab. Forests, with the preceding species: W.C. Obs.—From the form of its long spikelet, somewhat resembling that of Alopecurus agrestis, has been derived its specific name. Genus 14. Carex, Linn. Carex spinirostris, sp. nov. Plant densely cæspitose. Culms leafy, obscurely triquetrous, slender, smooth, 10–11 inches long. Leaves much longer than the culms, 2 feet 6 inches—2 feet 9 inches long, ⅙th of an inch wide, linear-acuminate and very acute at tip, rather flat, sub-membranaceous, striate, keeled, drooping, dark-green, slightly scabrous, with finely and closely serrulated margins. Spikelets

7, slender, cylindrical, rich reddish-brown; 3 lower very distant, nearly 2 inches apart, 1¼ inch long (or more), and compound or subpanicled, unisexual, female, save 1 or 2 male flowers at the base, nodding; 4 upper crowded and shorter (except the top one which is 2 inches long), unisexual, male, but having a few female flowers at the top of spikelets. Bracts very long, 2 lowest foliaceous and much longer than the culm, the upper ones setaceous and reaching to about the length of the culm, all very scabrid; each bract having a pair of long membranaceous linear-oblong bracteoles (or sub-ligulæ) at base and clasping the peduncle. Peduncles filiform, wiry, angled, and scabrid. Glumes oblong, much longer and broader than the utricle, shining, truncate, and fimbriate at tip, nerved, edges membranaceous, cuspidate or awned, the beak, or awn, stout, green (some white), very long (1 line, and some more), very coarsely barbed. Utricle glabrous, sub-oblong-ovate, brown, bicuspidate, cusps spreading, barbed. Stigmas 3, light-brown, rough, half-exserted, spreading at tips. Filaments and anthers very long; filaments white, flaccid and much wrinkled; anthers linear, apioulate at tip, reddish-brown. Hab. In Fagus forests, near Norsewood, with the preceding Unciniæ: W. C. Class III. Cryptogamia. Order V. Hepaticæ. Genus 30. Symphyogyna, Mont. and Nees. Symphyogyna biflora, sp. nov. Plant, terrestrial, gregarious, each plant simple, erect, stipitate, the largest under 1 inch long; roots short hairy; stipe 4–6 lines long, subflexuose, compressed, winged above, 2-nerved from the base of frond; nerves very distinct; frond, decurrent on the stipe, 3–5 lines long, 7–9 lines broad at base, mostly branching at base into two main divisions, each division once or twice dichotomous, symmetrical, kidney-shaped in outline, sometimes palmate, glabrous, pellucid, very finely reticulated; colour, light-green; segments linear, or linear-spathulate, 1 line broad, very obtuse, rounded at apex, deeply emargiuate with sides conniving, nerved to base of notch, margins finely serrate; teeth long falcate and transversely barred; sinuses rounded; fructification in axils of nerves near base of frond beneath, generally two on each plant, symmetrical; involucre a small narrow oblong scale in front of calyptra, jagged at margin; in a few of the largest plants, two additional involucres have been noticed, one at the base of each upper pair of nerves: calyptra tubular, 3–3½ lines long, bifid at apex, margins fimbriate: peduncle 1 inch long, erect, chartaceous, white: capsule 2 lines long, linear-oblong, cylindric, acute, 4-valved, abounding in long elaters; colour, rich red-brown.

Hab. On clayey banks, “Seventy-mile Bush,” between Norsewood and Danneverke: W.C.; Glenross: Mr. D. P. Balfour; (North Island): near Blenheim (South Island): Mr. F. Reader. Although at first sight this species may appear very near to S. hymenophyllum, S. flabellata and S. leptopoda, and also to my new species S. rugulosum, there are many points of distinction between them. It is a much smaller plant with a shorter stipe, each simple frond being also a perfect plant and not rising from a creeping rhizome,—which, those four species severally do. It further differs from S. flabellata, S. leptopoda, and S. rugulosum, in having serrated margins; and from S. hymenophyllum (which has serrated margins), in its serratures or teeth being much larger and closer, and in the divisions and outline of its frond, in the shape of its segments, their apices and sinuses, and most distinctly in its very minute areolation. Fortunately I have been able to examine a large suite of specimens, from Hawke's Bay district, and from Blenheim (South Island); and am also well acquainted with all the known New Zealand species of this genus. [Obs. In describing the fructification, I have added this word—“beneath”—for clearness; although it properly belongs to the generic description, which character, however, is not given in its place, in the short description of the genus in the “Handbook,” nor in the “Flora of New Zealand.” From my too closely following what is said in the “Handbook,”—at the close, under “Additions, Corrections,” etc.,—” a new arrangement of the New Zealand genera of Hepaticæ by Mitten,” (p. 752)—I fell into an error three years ago in describing, or rather in partly naming, another new and closely allied species, S. rugulosum, mihi;* “Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. xiii., p. 368. as there the genus is shortly characterized by Mitten as having the “Calyptra on upper side of often stipitate frond,” which, of course, can only mean its ventral surface; and Metzgeria, the next genus in sequence, is said by him to have the “Calyptra on the under side of frond,” Sir J. D. Hooker, however, in his “Key to the Genera of the New Zealand Hepaticæ,” (“Handbook,” p. 500), gives as a character of this genus,—“Involucre a toothed scale dorsal:” and so again, in his “Flora N.Z.,” vol. ii., p. 127,—Symphyogyna, Calyptra dorsal, etc.:” and in his “Flora Tasmaniæ,” vol. ii., p. 239, he further says, under Symphyogyna rhizobola, (which had also been erroneously described by Dr. Taylor as having its “Calyptra ventral,”) “the fructification is truly dorsal, as in all others of the genus.” And so it is stated in the “Synopsis Hepaticorum”: but all this I did not fully know three years ago, until after I had described S. rugulosum, (although at that time I had doubts about it, as my paper will also show), being led astray, as I take it, by the latest published authority on Hepaticæ.]

Genus 41.* This genus does not appear in the “Flora N.Z.,” neither in the “Handbook Flora N.Z.” (as it was not known to inhabit New Zealand). I have, therefore, numbered it to come after Riccia (Gen. 40), the last genus of Sir J. D. Hooker's Hepaticæ; although I am aware that the authors of the Syn. Hepaticorum place it before Marchantia. Monoclea, Hook. Monoclea hookeri, sp. nov. Plant procumbent, frondose, imbricated, very flat, thick, succulent, densely rooting all over lower surface; colour grass-green. Fronds very large, spreading, plane, apparently continuous, glabrous, hairy below and at the edges; lobes unequal, of all sizes and shapes, often largely crenulate and sabrotomd at margins, which are sinuate and undulate. Calyx none. Calyptra (or perianth) membranaceous, greenish-white and transparent, tubular, 4 lines long, 1 line broad, slightly bilobed and jagged at tips, lips very obtuse, wholly included within the cavity of the frond, which is near the margin on the upper surface, where it remains enclosing the base of the seta. Seta 1¼ inch long, 1 line broad, linear, terete, stoute, succulent, glabrous, whitish, erect from frond, but the part included (with the calyptra) is horizontal, sometimes 1, 2, or 3 issue from the same simple fissure, and are disposed closely together flat and parallel within the frond, without any prominent ridgy markings on its surface to denote them. Capsule, terete, at first (before bursting) linear-oblong, obtuse, erect, 2 lines long, dark brown, smooth, glossy, without striae or markings, bursting below longitudinally, when the margins become revolute, and the spores and spiral filaments show themselves in a small floccose woollylike mass, their colour a dirty light-ash-yellow; afterwards the empty capsule spreads out and assumes an oval figure, the texture being very finely reticulated. Spores and elaters are numerous, closely resembling those of M. forsteri. I could not detect any vestige of a columella, the want of which (as first shown by the founder of the genus, Sir W. J. Hooker) has been by some disputed. Hab. In damp forests on the ground, on the immediate margins and sides of streamlets, near Norsewood, Hawke's Bay, 1882: W.C. Obs.—This plant is very common throughout New Zealand—almost sure to be met with on the borders of watercourses and springs in shady low-lying woods—but very rarely in fruit. Indeed I—who have known it in its barren state for nearly fifty years, and have very often diligently sought its fructification—never saw its fruit before I found these specimens; and I was mightily pleased at my discovery. Although I gained several fruiting specimens, yet these all grew in one small spot (and, apparently, from one plant), I could not find any more though there were feet, or yards, of this plant luxuriantly growing there. I had always supposed this plant to be

identical with Forster's plant (M. forsteri, Hook.), which was discovered by him when with Cook somewhere in the “Southern Islands,”* “In Insulis Australibus.” (Forster in Hb. Lambert). and of which no specimens have been obtained since Forster first gathered them. This species, however, though possessing close affinity with that, bears a different shaped capsule, which is not striate or marked longitudinally as that is, its calyptra also is differently situated, and has different lips, and there are other differences in its frond. I have very much pleasure in naming it after the late Sir W. J. Hooker, who established the genus, and who correctly described and drew the original plant in his justly celebrated Musci Exotici (vol. ii., tab. 174), so that the names of those two honoured botanists may remain together in connection with this small abnormal and highly curious natural genus, which now contains 2 species.