from grassland over 3,000ft altitude, have the male flower head quite similar to that of the typical form (female not seen), but the leaves are very much more slender, average length 45 cm as against 30 cm; stipules and petioles are much longer; leaflets 9–11 instead of the usual 5; leaflets 1½ mm wide as against 3 mm in the typical form. A specimen from Mt. Cleughearn in the Canterbury Museum differs from the typical form in another direction. It is a very large plant with female scape and flower head 40 cm tall, leaves about 50 cm long, 6 mm wide, simple but with irregularly spaced joints; female bract sheaths very broad, 30 mm long, 20 mm wide. It should be mentioned that simple leaves sometimes occur in the typical form. The three forms look very different, but in the absence of better specimens I hesitate to describe them as distinct species. The leaves of the Caswell Sound plant are more distinct from those, of the other two forms than they are from each other. Distribution. Mountainous districts from St. Arnaud Range to Foveaux Strait, mainly in the areas of high rainfall. St. Arnaud Range (Wall, CM). Rangitata Mountains (Gray&Armstrong, CM, type of A. montana; DM). Hunter Mountains (Thomson, BD). Mt. Cook (Mason, BD). Lake Ohau Mountains (Kendell), Mt. St. Mary (Simpson, BD). Fowler Pass (Simpson, BD). Dore Pass (Wall, CM). Takahe Valley (Oliver). Caswell Sound (Poole, BD, 67223; Oliver). Doubtful Sound (Thomson, DM). Dusky Sound (Lyall, Kew Herb., Type of A. lyallii). End Peak (J. C. Smith, DM, type of A. cuthbertiana). Mt. Cleughearn (Wall, CM; J. C. Smith&Cuthbert). The Hump (Speden, DM). Princess Ra. (Thomson, CM). Takitimu Mountains (Wall, CM). Adams Burn, Lake Te Au (Philipson). Water-fall Creek, Lake Te Anau (Philipson). Aciphylla gracilis n.sp. Affinis A. lyallii Hook, f., a qua differt caule multo graciliore, masculo inflorescentia laxiore, bractea angustiore. (Plate 3, Fig. 3.) Folia pauca pinnata, 3–5-foliata, segmentis linearibus, vaginis angustis sensim deorsum dilatatis. Masculus caulis gracilis, striatus, usque ad 22 cm altus. Bracteae distantes; vaginis tenuibus, angustibus, 20–25 mm longis; stipulis acicularibus, apice 3–5-foliolatis. Masculae umbellae compositae quam vaginae longiores. Femineae flores ignotae. Leaves few, up to 12 cm long, usually under 15 to a plant, pinnate, 2 pairs, sometimes 1, of leaflets and a terminal one which occasionally has an extra leaflet. Sheath rather narrow, widening at the base, smooth above, ribbed below, length 30 mm, width at base 8 mm; stipules acicular, 10–20 mm long; petiole smooth, 25–35 mm long; leaflets up to 45 × 3 mm, smooth, acicular at tips. Male stem slender, 2 mm in diameter, striate, including the flower head up to 22 cm tall Bracts about 8, distant, making an open panicle, sheaths thin, almost membraneous, 20–25 mm long, about 7 mm wide at base, faintly ribbed; stipules acicular, 5–6 mm long, laminae of lowest bracts with 3 to 5 segments, remainder of one segment only, the uppermost without stipules. Compound umbels with long stalks and linear bracteoles longer than the pedicels. Female flowers not seen. Type from Kirkliston Range, collected by W. R. B. Oliver, 1951, in Dominion Museum. Nearest related to A. lyallii in its smooth, 3–5-foliolate leaves without crenulate margins, and in the open male inflorescence, but it is a much smaller plant with all its parts much more slender and delicate. Distribution. Kirkliston Range (Oliver, DM, type). Lake Ohau (Kendell). Aciphylla trifoliolata Petrie, Trans. N.Z. Inst., 48, 186, 1916. Type from Mt. Lyell in Dominion Museum. The pinnate leaves with serrulate margins and the elongate inflorescence place this species near A. crenulata. These two species differ very much in all their main characters. The leaves of A. trifoliolata are much firmer in texture, being almost cane-like with regularly spaced dark grooves, and they keep their form when dry. The leaflets and petioles are much shorter than in A. crenulata. In the inflorescence of A. trifoliolata the bracts have long sheaths, up to 60 mm, and the central leaflet is long and wide, 80 × 5 mm. The bracts are closely placed on the stems so that the flowers are mostly hidden by the central segments In A. crenulata the bract segments are narrow and their sheaths mostly short. Distribution. Mt. Lyell, S. W. Nelson, 4,000ft (Townson, AM, DM, type; CM). Aciphylla crenulata Armstrong, N. Z. Country Journ., 3, 56, 1879. Type from Arthurs Pass in Canterbury Museum. (Plate 4, Fig. 1.) This grass-like species is placed near A. trifoliolata on account of its pinnate leaves, leaflets with serrulate margins, and elongated inflorescence. It differs from A. trifoliolata in the narrow