Araljaceæ.

Panax crassifolia, Dene & Planche. (Hedera crassifolia, A. Gray; F. Muell, l. c.)

This species, so remarkable in New Zealand for its varied leaf-form, shows in the Chatham Island plant another well marked variety.

In the varieties of New Zealand the leaves, whether one or three foliolate, are much elongated, narrow, and reflexed downwards for several years before flowering; afterwards they become shorter, broader, and erect.

In the variety under notice the leaves are erect from the first, before flowering being 3—10 inches long, 1—1 1/2 inches broad, and with a few deep serrations at the tips. Mixed with these in the earliest stage are a few small obcordate leaves, lin. long, 3/4in. broad. After the plant commences to flower, the leaves diminish in size and become entire. The fruit is more elongate in this variety than in the varieties of New Zealand, resembling most that of Panax lineare, Hook. fil., from Dusky Bay, South Island.