Art. XLVIII.—An Account of the Finding of Two Australian Plants, hitherto unnoticed, here in New Zealand.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 27, 1894, Page 401

Art. XLVIII.—An Account of the Finding of Two Australian Plants, hitherto unnoticed, here in New Zealand. By W. Colenso, F.R.S., F.L.S. (Lond.), & c. [Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 12th November, 1894.] 1. Erythrœa australis, Br. An erect glabrous annual, from under 6in. to 1 ½ft. high, the branches few and not very spreading. Leaves sessile, ovate-oblong elliptical or lanceolate, mostly obtuse; the lower

ones stem-clasping, nearly 1in. long. Flowers nearly sessile along the more or less elongated branches of the once-forked or dichotomous cyme, with a leafy bract under each flower, thus forming one-sided interrupted leafy spikes. Calyx narrow, 3–4 lines long, with 4 (rarely 5) angles and acute teeth or lobes. Corolla-tube usually exceeding the calyx, but sometimes shorter; lobes ovate or oblong, much shorter than the tube. Capsule oblong, shorter than the calyx. Seeds small, reticulated-striate. Hab. Woods, highlands near East Cape; 1893: Mr. H. Hill. Obs. This species, the only one in Australia, where it is generally found in all the colonies, and also in Tasmania, is also in New Caledonia and the Loochoo Islands, and is said to differ only from E. spicata (a species common in the Mediterranean region, and eastward at least as far as Afghanistan) in the flowers, usually but not commonly 4-merous. 2. Alisma plantago, Linn. Rootstock perennial, sometimes very hard, and almost bulbous, with the thickened sheathing bases of the petioles. Leaves ovate-oblong or elliptical, shortly acuminate, 3in. to 4in. long in well-grown specimens, usually 7-nerved, the transverse veinlets very oblique, not close, and more or less contracted by reticulations. Flowering-stem 1ft. to 4ft high, with a large loose panicle, often above 1ft. long, with whorled divaricate branches and pedicels. Outer perianth-segments ovate striate persistent, above 1 line long; inner ones twice as large, of a pale-pink, very fugacious. Carpels 15 to 20, obovate, laterally flattened, 1 to 1 ½ lines long, bearing the remains of the style on the inner edge below the apex, and marked on the back with an impressed or slightly prominent dorsal nerve, the whole forming a flat ring of 2 ½ to 6 lines diameter with a depressed centre. Hab. In watercourses on the banks of the River Tukituki, east of Napier, Hawke's Bay; 1892 and 1893: Mr. H. Hill. Obs. This species is found in New South Wales and in Victoria, and is also frequent in many parts of Britain by lakes, streams, and ditches. Mr. Hill first met with it in 1892, but long past flowering, and much decayed in its package when it reached me, so I was obliged to wait another year, when, again through the kindness of Mr. Hill, I obtained better specimens. As there is no difference that I am aware of between those two plants found in New Zealand by Mr. Hill and the Australian ones, I have used Bentham's able descriptions of them, copied from his “Flora Australiensis.”