Art. LVI.—Descriptions of Three New Native Plants.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 28, 1895, Page 538

Art. LVI.—Descriptions of Three New Native Plants. By D. Petrie, M.A., F.L.S. [Read before the Auckland Institute, 7th October, 1895.] Geum pusillum, sp. nov. A small depressed herb. Rootstock as stout as a goose's quill, short. Leaves rosulate, few, lin. long and ¼in. wide, pinnate; leaflets small, rapidly diminishing from the rather large terminal leaflet, sparsely covered above and chiefly at the edges with rather long stiff hairs. Scapes simple, slender, yellow, finely and closely pubescent, with two or fewer subulate scale-like bracts. Flowers solitary, terminal, small; petals 5 or 6, white, small, narrow elliptic, obtuse; stamens twice as many as the petals. Achenes very small, ending abruptly in a short recurved style ⅛ to 1/10 the length of the achene. Receptacle elongate, conical, hairy. Hab. Old Man Range, Otago, 5,000ft. A very distinct plant. Its simple short slender scapes, small solitary flowers, and minute short-styled achenes readily mark it off from all the other native species of the genus. A small bibracteate involucel sometimes occurs below the flower, but I cannot say whether this is constantly present. Epilobium pictum, sp. nov. A slender species, 6in. to 10in. high, generally branched from the base, sometimes with short branches springing from

the axils of all the cauline leaves, decumbent at the base or erect, finely and densely pubescent. Lower leaves opposite, upper alternate; diminishing but slightly upwards, rather distant, glabrous, membranous, sub-sessile, sharply narrowed at the base, narrow ovate - elliptic, obtuse, coarsely and sharply toothed (four or five pairs of teeth projecting beyond the general outline of the leaf on either side), ¾in. long, ¼in. wide, above pale-green blotched with grey, more or less red below; midrib evident, translucent, secondary nerves very inconspicuous. Flowers several (about 6), crowded in the axils of the uppermost leaves, rather small, pink, very shortly pedicelled, pedicels ⅛in. to ⅙in. long. Capsules slender, very pubescent, 1 ¼in. to 1 ½in. long; pedicels not lengthening in fruit. Seeds smooth. Hab. Mountain valleys of Central Otago, from 1,500ft. to 3,000ft.; Lowburn Creek; Obelisk Creek; Mount St. Bathan's. This species is closely related to E. alsinoides, Hook. f. It differs in the larger leaves that are not opposite above, the erect stem, the coarser teeth, the pink flowers, and the short pedicels that do not elongate in fruit. Myosotis (Exarrhena) oreophila, sp. nov. A depressed alpine perennial. Stems few, ascending, 3in. to 4in. long, slender, leafy, hispid and grey with appressed stiff white hairs. Radical leaves long-petiolate, linear-spathulate, obtuse, rather membranous, rather closely clothed with appressed stiff white hairs, 2in. long or less. Lower cauline leaves like the radical, but smaller; upper linear-oblong, sessile, acute. Flowers in a small capitate cyme, ebracteate, sessile or subsessile, 10 to 16 in number. Calyx ¼in. long, cut nearly to the middle into five acute lobes, hispid with stiff appressed or slightly-spreading hairs. Corolla one-half longer than the calyx, funnel-shaped, purple, the lobes 5, spreading, and obtusely rounded. Stamens 5, very slightly exserted; filaments nearly as long as the pendulous anthers, springing from the base of the corolla lobes; scales obscure. Style twice as long as the calyx, slender. Ripe nuts not seen. Hab. Mount Ida, Otago, 4,000ft., on finely-broken shingle. I have had this plant for many years, but have never been able to find it a second time. While it has some affinity to the Dun Mountain Exarrhena, its nearest ally seems to be M. traversii, Hook. f.