Art. XXXVII.—Descriptions of New Native Plants.

Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Volume 29, 1896, Page 425

Art. XXXVII.—Descriptions of New Native Plants. By D. Petrie M.A., F.L.S [Read before the Auckland Institute, 3rd August, 1896.] 1. Epilobium elegans, sp. nov. Stems simple or branched from the base, slender, 2in.-5in. high, marked above by two bands of fine crisp pubescence, almost or quite glabrous below, decumbent and rooting at the base, then erect. Leaves crowded below, the cauline “more distant, opposite (except the flowering-bracts) and connate, linear or narrow lanceolate (½in.-¾in. long by 1/6in. broad), obtuse or subacute, sometimes submucronate, shortly and obscurely toothed, thin, light-green, glabrous; midrib evident, sometimes translucent; secondary nerves very obscure. Flowers few, in the axils of the upper leaves, large, white, shortly pedicelled; petals deeply lobed, about twice the length of the sepals. Capsules glabrous, reddish-brown, ¾in.-1 ¼in. long, narrowed at the apex; fruiting peduncles much longer than the flowering, slender, finely pubescent, 2in. long, or less. Testa of seeds smooth. Hab. Dunedin; Mount Kyeburn; Naseby; Spear-grass Flat; Mount Torlesse: 300ft.-3,000ft. In stunted forms the stems are simple, the leaves closely crowded, the flowers solitary, and the peduncles and capsules much shorter than in well-grown forms. The present species is close to E. confertifolium, -Hook, f. The linear thin leaves, larger flowers, elongating pubescent peduncles, longer brown capsules, and smooth seeds are its chief differential characters. 2. Hydrocotyle hydrophila, sp. nov. A very small species, everywhere perfectly glabrous or with a few slender hairs at the tops of the petioles. Stems creeping and rooting, very slender, sparingly branched. Leaves 1/5in. in diameter, 3-partite to the base, thin, with rather long slender petioles; lobes of the leaf obcuneate, rounded at the tip or 2- or 3-crenate. Peduncles filiform, 1in. long, or less; umbels few flowered (1 or 2, rarely 3); flowers sessile or subsessile. Fruit small, glabrous; carpels ⅛in. broad 1/16in. high, acute at the edges, with one rib on each face.

Hab. Matata (Bay of Plenty); Otago Harbour; Wycliffe Bay; Tomahawk Lagoon; Bluff Harbour; Stewart Island. I am indebted to Mr. B. C. Aston for a knowledge of several of the foregoing habitats, as well as for fruiting specimens from Wycliffe Bay. This species is near H. muscosa, R. Br., of which I was at first disposed to regard it as a variety. The smaller size of the plant, and especially of the carpels (which are not one-third the size of those of H. muscosa), its wide distribution, the constancy of its characters throughout its range, and its restriction to wet seaside stations, seem to me sufficient to establish its specific independence. It has been repeatedly referred to var. tripartita of Pozoa trifoliolata, Hook. f., but the carpels were then unknown. These leave no doubt as to the genus in which it must be ranked. 3: Ourisia cockayniana, sp. nov. A tufted glabrescent small-leaved alpine species. Stems creeping and matted, with numerous short branches, rather stout. Leaves in opposite pairs, not imbricating: radical ¾in. to 1 ¼in. long; blade short, coriaceous, broadly ovate, obtuse, glabrous, crenate-serrate, the lower surface with strongly-marked anastomosing veins, and mottled with spots and blotches of purple; petioles longer than the blades, broad, flat, fringed at the edges with long ciliate white hairs, and bearing some sparse long hairs on the back. Scapes simple, leafy, purplish, glabrescent, stout, 4in. to 6in. high. Cauline leaves and. bracts in pairs, ovate or ovate-cuneate, subsessile, ciliate along the lower margin, as large as the blades of the radical leaves or larger (½in. long and nearly as broad), not diminishing towards the top. Flowers in pairs (five or fewer), large, white, on slender glabrous pedicels 1in. to 1 ¼in. in length. Calyx cut nearly to the base into oblong or slightly cuneate segments, glabrous but for a few ciliate hairs at the base of the lobes. Corolla-lobes broadly obtuse, emarginate. Capsules ⅛in. long, rather more than half the length of the persistent calyx. Hab. Mount Alexander; Teremakau Valley: 5,000ft. The present species, which was discovered some years ago by Mr. L. Cockayne, has grown very freely in gardens at Dunedin. It is easily cultivated, and forms a showy plant. Its large bracts easily distinguish it from the other species native to New Zealand.