[Read before the Hawke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 14th December, 1885.]

Class I. Dicotyledons.
Order I.^* Ranunculaceæ.

numerous, rather small, elliptic, obtuse, with a minute connective; stamens somewhat clavate, or with the anther sub-spathulate. Heads small, broadly ovate; receptacle elongated, glabrous, finely papillose. Achenes (immature) long, narrow, subulate, erect, slightly hairy below; style scarcely recurved, glabrous; tip (stigma) minutely pencilled.

Hab. On spurs of the east slopes of the Ruahine mountain range, County of Waipawa; November, 1885: Mr. H. Hill.

Obs. A fine and striking species, but closely allied to R. insignis, Hook. fil.; differing, however, in its smaller size; orbicular strigillose leaves; larger, ribbed, and ciliated sepals; fewer, deeply emarginate, broader and rumpled petals; and especially in their possessing but a single glandular depression—R. insignis having more (2, “Flora N.Z.;” 3,^*. “Handbook” ditto); on which grave characteristic stress is also laid—and also in the form and construction of the anthers. It is, however, worthy of note, that R. insignis is a denizen of the higher summits of this mountain range (where it was originally discovered by me), while this plant is found on the lower spurs of the same range.

Genus 2. Stellaria, Linn.

1. S. oligosperma, sp. nov.

A slender prostrate rambling flaccid creeping and glabrous herb, 1 foot or more long, growing in pretty large entangled patches of many feet, rooting from its nodes. Leaves few, distant, opposite in pairs, very thin, light-green, orbicular, 2–2 ½ lines diameter, with intra-marginal parallel vein, apiculate, petioles slender, longer than leaves, with a few weak hairs. Peduncles axillary, much longer than leaves, patent, two-flowered; pedicels 4–6 lines long, unequal in length though springing from the same base, erect and divergent at right angles with a pair of bracts at their base, and another pair below the middle of the longer pedicel; bracts ovate-acuminate, scarious with a dark central line. Flowers 1 ½ lines diameter; sepals 5, ovate-acuminate, 1-nerved with white scarious margins; petals 5 divided to base, each lobe linear-spathulate; stamens usually 9; styles 3, large, flexuous; capsule twice the length of sepals, very membranous, white, 6-valved nearly to base, valves reflexed; seeds few and large, usually 6, sometimes fewer, orbicular, turgid, with a notch, bright cinnamon-coloured when first ripe, becoming dark-brown with age, finely and regularly marked somewhat concentrically, not pitted.

Hab. In shaded forests, near Norsewood, County of Waipawa; 1883–85: W.C.

Obs. A species having pretty close affinity with S. parviflora, Banks and Sol., which it resembles in habit, but differing in several particulars.

Genus 1. Stackhousia, Smith.

1. S. uniflora, sp. nov.

Plant small, glabrous; stems creeping underground; branchlets numerous, slender, sub-angular, erect, loosely branched, light-green, with reddish striate lines, 1–2 inches high; leaves small, few, distant, 6–10 on a main branch, linear-obovate and broadly-lanceolate, 1 ½–2 ½ lines long, acute and sub-apiculate, thickish, nerveless, green with reddish margins, sub-petiolate with minute stipellæ. Flowers terminal, solitary, conspicuous, rather large for the plant, peduncled with one small foliaceous bract at base; calyx lobes adpressed, deltoid, serrulate and very acute; corolla 2–2 ½ lines long, yellowish-brown, speckled and striped with red (as also the calyx), tube united nearly to base, lobes more dusky and dark spotted, linear-lanceolate, acute, 1 line long, spreading, sub-revolute; anthers glabrous, oblong, sub-acute, cordate, orange; stigma trifid; cocci (immature) 3.

Hab. On open spots, banks of the River Manawatu, County of Waipawa; November, 1884: Mr. Henry Hill.

Obs. A species allied to S. minima, Hook, fil., our only known New Zealand species, but differing from it in its flowers being always solitary, its adpressed calyx with serrulate lobes, and its glabrous anthers. It is also closely allied to S. pulvinaris, Muell., (judging from Bentham's description of that species in his “Flora Australiensis,”) an Australian and Tasmanian plant of nearly the same size and habit; which species, however, has crowded leaves almost concealing the flowers, obtuse lobes to the corolla, and small obtuse bracts.

Genus 1. Pomaderris, Labill.

1. Pamœna, sp. nov.

Shrub 2–3 feet high, bushy, diffused, much branched, very leafy; stems and branches dark-red-brown; branchlets thickly hirsute-pubescent with patent grey hairs. Leaves numerous, close set, thickish, patent, sub-decurved, 2–3 lines long, linear, obtuse, wholly revolute laterally to midrib; margins entire, meeting, of a pleasing grass-green colour above, and very scabrid (sub-muricate) with white scattered hairs; petioles pubescent, nearly 1 line long, and very striking from their white

colour with a yellowish tinge; stipules two or more, half the length of leaves, subulate, erect, grey. Flowers very numerous at tops of branches, in small axillary cymose-panicles of 6–8 flowers, twice the length of leaves; pedicels about 1 line long, each with two scarious brown bracteoles at base. Petals 0. Calyx large, spreading, rotate, white, petaloid, 2 lines diameter, pubescent on outside (with pedicels and peduncle), lobes broadly ovate, reflexed, with a central ridge the whole length above, margins incurved, apices sub-acute, thickened; stamens spreading and inclined, a little longer than the style, brown; anthers oblong, obtuse, light-brown; style very short, fuscous, 3- (sometimes 2-) branched; branches long, spreading, clavate; stigma large, globular, papillose, dark-brown, ovary half exserted, sub-conico-rotund, thickly villous with long, whitish, shining hairs; cocci 3, narrow elliptic, obtuse, concave.

Hab. Growing with Leptospermum, on dry, open, hilly grounds, back of Poverty Bay; 1885: Mr. H. Hill.

Obs. A species certainly very new to the common northern New Zealand species (P. phylicifolia, Lodd.), but differing from it in several characters, the most striking being its bright-green foliage, (which colour it also retains in drying,) and its longer panicles of much larger flowers, that are spreading, very white, and conspicuous; an entirely different looking plant from its northern congener.

Genus 1. Haloragis, Forst.

1. H. minima, sp. nov.

Plant very small, glabrous, wiry, prostrate and creeping, rooting at nodes; root-stock and rootlets glabrous; branches ascending, 1–2 inches high, few (4–6) leaved. Leaves opposite, sub-orbicular and orbicular-ovate, not cordate, apiculate, about 1 line long (sometimes, but rarely, 1 ½ lines), crenate or inciso-serrate with minute coloured teeth 2–6 to a leaf, thickish, nerveless, light-green. Flowers very minute, scarcely ½ a line long, simple-panicled and racemed at ends of branches, opposite in pairs, lowest pair very distant from the rest on peduncle, upper ones crowded, pendulous on short pedicels, axillary, springing from simple entire foliaceous green bracts or floral leaves, with very minute coloured bracteoles at base of pedicels; calyx-tube sub-globular or turbinate, 8-ribbed, glabrous, shining, dark-red; lobes large, deltoid, green with purple margins; petals boat-shaped, conniving, apiculate, dark-purple-red, anthers exserted, oblong, obtuse base and tip; stigmas very plumose; fruit not seen.

Hab. Tarawera, high lands between Napier and Taupo; December, 1884; Mr. H. Hill.

Obs. A species pretty closely allied to its small New Zealand congeners, H. depressa, Hook. fil., and H. micrantha, Brown; and also to some of the smaller Australian and Tasmanian forms, but is abundantly distinct in many particulars.

Genus 3. Gunnera, Linn.

1. G. flavida, sp. nov.

Plant glabrous, erect, 3–4 inches high; leaves 7–9, radical, membranous, broadly elliptic, ¾–1 inch long, margins sinuate-crenulate, petioles 1–2 inches long. Scape erect, very stout, much longer than leaves (about 4 inches), springing from root-stock below leaves. Flowers not seen. Fruit in a spike (or sub-raceme) 2 inches long, drupes fleshy, 1 ½–2 lines long, sub-turbinate, compressed, patent, light yellow, scattered and pedicelled below, sub-sessile and pretty close together above.

Hab. Swampy ground near Tahoraiti, County of Waipawa; April, 1885: Mr. H. Hill.

Obs. A species having some affinity with G. prorepens, Hook. fil., but differing in several characters, as size and form of leaves and petioles, length of scape, and position, shape, and colour of ripe fruit; which in G. prorepens are sessile, very compact, and bright-red. I have received, through the kindness and courtesy of Mr. Hill, several good and whole specimens, and they do not vary.

Genus 1. Hydrocotyle, Linn.

1. H. colorata, sp. nov.

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Plant hirsutely-pilose; stems stoutish, 1–2 feet long, creeping, rooting at nodes 1–2 inches apart, usually one leaf and one peduncle bearing flowers from each node. Leaves pale-green, often purple margined, soft, rough above with muricated points and white sub-succulent strigillose hairs, 8–10 lines diameter, orbicular-reniform with a very broad sinus, 7-veined, 5-lobed (the two outer lobes being larger and sub-lobed), lobes cut ⅓rd to middle, each acutely and many toothed; petioles very long, 3–5 inches; stipules rather large, membranous, shining, coloured pink, sharply laciniate. Flowers: peduncles ¾–1 inch; heads small, globular, many-flowered, 15–30; petals broadly-ovate, acute and concave, whitish-yellow streaked with red on the outside, pinkish within, very shortly pedicelled; bracteoles small, linear-spathulate, obtuse, appearing above flower-buds and covering them before expansion, and persistent. Fruit very small, 1/16 inch diameter, glabrous, chestnut-brown; styles distant, much recurved; carpels somewhat turgid, with a narrow ridged rib on each face; back acutely ridged; dark-brown when fully ripe, persistent.

Hab. In low spots, margins of woods near Norsewood, County of Waipawa; 1884–85: W.C.

Obs. I. This plant forms large dense patches, overrunning all low herbage, roots, twigs, etc., in a very tangled way; it has, however, a pretty uniform and striking appearance from its pale colour and neat leaves. It grows profusely in three or four spots in the locality named, but I have not observed it anywhere else.

Obs II. This species has some affinity with H. moschata, Forst., also with H. compacta, A. Rich., (another New Zealand species,) and probably with some Australian and Tasmanian species (as H. hirta, Br.), judging from diagnoses of Hook. fil., and Bentham; but, in my opinion, is very distinct, and one not readily confounded with our many New Zealand species.

2. H. alsophila, sp. nov.

Plant weak, glabrous, prostrate, creeping, much entangled; stems 1–2 feet (or more) long, rooting at nodes. Leaves rather distant on stems, 1 inch or more apart, membranous, bright green, sub-orbicular-reniform, 9–14 lines diameter, 8-veined and lobed, the four central lobes large and rounded at tips almost entire, or each lobe having three blunt crenate-serratures, the two outer lobes crenate-toothed at base; sinus large; lamina reticulate; petioles 2 ½–3 inches long, nerved, with a few long flaccid succulent jointed white hairs immediately under the leaves, each one enclosed in a pellucid tubular membrane; stipules large, very membranous, largely and finely reticulated, margins entire. Peduncles very short, about 2 lines long, stoutish; umbels 9–11 flowered (usually 10); flowers small, pedicelled; pedicels short, stout; bracteoles bladdery, obtuse, concave; petals white; styles flexuous, incurved; stigmas stout, largely tubercled. Fruit small, ½0th inch diameter, glabrous, very thin, pale yellowish-brown; carpels with one rib on each face.

Hab. In dense dark forests, Seventy-mile Bush, County of Waipawa; 1882–85: W.C.

Obs. This plant grows profusely in large patches, extending many yards each way. It seems to be allied to H. novæ-zealandiæ, DC., and H. heteromeria, DC., but is quite distinct.

Genus 1. Coprosma, Forst.

1. C. rufescens, sp. nov.

A tall, slender, erect, distantly branched shrub, 9–12 feet high; bark greyish; epidermis slightly scaly. Branches and branchlets few, very long, slender, opposite, divaricate at nearly right angles, and spreading; branchlets densely hairy, with patent reddish hairs. Leaves few, somewhat scattered, mostly in distant pairs at tips of branches and branchlets, very membranous, sub-rugulose, broadly elliptic, sometimes (but rarely)

is found there; a curious kind of gall-like excrescence, the work, doubtless, of some insect. A very similar one is also to be met with at the tips of the branchlets of Hydrocotyle concinna, Col., mentioned by me in my description of that plant. (“Trans. N.Z. Inst.,” vol. xvii., p. 239.)

2. C. heterophylla, sp. nov.

Plant a small, slender, erect shrub 4–5 feet high, of irregular and diffuse growth; bark pale-greyish-brown. Branches long, loose, and very slender, thickly pubescent (as are also branchlets, stipules, and petioles,) with short white hairs; branchlets opposite, long, almost filiform, arcuate, few-leaved. Leaves few, scattered, usually in pairs about 1 inch apart, membranaceous, glabrous, light-green above, paler below, spreading, of various shapes and sizes—rhomboidal, sub-orbicular, lanceolate, and narrowly linear, 3–4 lines long, ⅓–3 lines broad, tips acute, veins red and reticulated, margined; margins red and a little recurved, entire and slightly sinuate-crenulate, gradually narrowed into the petiole; petiole short, slender, under 1 line long; stipules very short but broad with a point, sub-ciliated. Drupe lateral, solitary on a short peduncle, generally on the under side of branches opposite to leaves on the upper, and at the outer angles of branchlets, globose, 2 lines diameter, purple-black, glossy, juicy, sweet; calycine lobes at base of drupe persistent, small, deltoid, pubescent, spreading. Nuts very small, elliptic, 1 line long, gibbous, very flat on their sides of junction.

Hab. In thick, dry woods near Norsewood, County of Waipawa; 1885: W.C.

Obs. A species having affinity with C. rhamnoides and C. divaricata, A. Cunn., also with C. concinna, Col.,^* but very distinct. It is a curious and striking plant in its foliage, from their extreme diversity; all the shapes mentioned above being often found on one branchlet. Its long, drooping branches are by far the most slender of all the species of the genus known to me; their being also so very bare of leaves helps to show their extreme tenuity. Flowers not seen; fruit plenty.

Genus 1. Olearia, Mœnch.

1. O. suborbiculata, sp. nov.

Leaves sub-coriaceous, alternate, about ½ inch apart, broadly elliptic, 1 ½–2 ¼ inches long, obtuse and sub-acute, base rounded and regular, margin entire in the lower half, slightly sinuate in the upper, with a few very small (scarcely developed) blunt teeth, glabrous, green and shining on the upper surface (but

when young very pilose, and hairs there deciduous), greenish-white below, and thickly covered with short adpressed hairs, having longer ones scattered among them, veined, veins and midrib prominent below, finely reticulated above; midrib brown; petioles short, sub ½ inch, stout, channelled, half-clasping, decurrent in a ridgy line to the next leaf below; a small orbicular leaf 4–5 lines diameter usually at base of branchlets; branchlets, petioles, midrib and young leaves densely clothed with silky adpressed brown-reddish hairs. Inflorescence sub-terminal and axillary in long loose slender corymbose-panicles, pale-coloured and hairy, 2–3 inches long, three together sub-fascicled or joined close at base with connate bracts at bases, each ultimate sub-panicle containing 3–4 heads on slender, nodding, and bracteolate pedicels, ¼–½ inch long. Heads ½ inch diameter, narrow, oblong, ¼ inch long; involucral scales laxly imbricate in sub 5 rows, outer scattered short brown and very villous, inner close, long, linear, pinkish-green, glabrous in the centres and densely shaggy-ciliate at margins, especially at tips. Flowers: of ray, 8–9, linear, oblong, tips mostly emarginate, white, spreading, sub-revolute; of disk, 6–7, yellowish, lobes broadly-ovate, obtuse, scabrid at tips on outside. Pappus white, rather short, irregular, outer shortest, not thickened at tips, scabrid. Achene small, cylindrical, sub-conical, obtuse, pilose. Receptacle pitted, borders large and ragged.

Hab. Hilly country in the interior, Patea, between Napier and Tongariro Mountain.

Obs. Of this plant I have only received one fair flowering specimen, from Mr. A. Lascelles (who, however, did not gather it himself); it is evidently a branch from a stout shrub, but some allowance must be made for the leaves, which may, lower down, be larger. Its alliance is with O. nitida, Hook. fil., and with O. populifolia, Colenso, belonging to that sub-section, (apud “Handbook N.Z. Flora,”) though largely differing from both of those species.

Genus 1. Mentha, Linn.

1. M. consimilis, sp. nov.

A small sub-erect and prostrate fragrant herb, branches 2–4 inches long, finely pubescent. Leaves few, distant, opposite, petioled, 1 ½–2 ½ lines long, sub-orbicular, and broadly ovate or trowel-shaped, very obtuse at apex and truncate at base, green, sometimes dark-pink below, margin (and veins) coloured pinkish-brown, slightly sinuate-crenulate, generally with one notch on each side near apex (sometimes two), and (together with bracts, calyx, and corolla) having many scattered pellucid

dots, and a few straggling white hairs on veins below. Flowers white, axillary, mostly in pairs, sometimes ternary and fasciculate, and occasionally single; peduncles short, stout, and (with pedicels) pubescent; pedicels slender, 2–2 ½ lines long, each with a pair of foliaceous ovate bracts on long petioles; calyx tubular-campanulate, 1 ½ lines long, villous and ciliate, with spreading white hairs, largely and strongly ribbed, about 15 ribs; ribs and margins of lobes coloured reddish-brown; lobes large, triangular, acuminate, villous on inside; corolla lobes large, flat, spreading, elliptic, very obtuse, slightly crenulate and waved, upper one bifid; stamens exserted, anthers lilac; style largely 2-lobed; stigmas much recurved.

Hab. Dry grassy spots, margins of woods near Norsewood, County of Waipawa; 1882–85: W.C.

Obs. I have known this little plant for some time, every summer observing it on visiting its habitat, and had supposed it to be identical with M. cunninghamii, Benth., yet not without doubts. However, on closely examining it this year (January, 1885), I have detected several characters (vide descript. supra) that are not in accordance with those of the N. species (M. cunninghamii), as severally described by Cunningham, Bentham, and Hook. fil. It is also much smaller in all its parts, except the flowers, which are larger.

Genus 1. Pimelea, Banks and Sol.

1. P. angulata, sp-nov.

Branches stout, bark glabrous, brownish-red, studded with raised scars from fallen leaves. Leaves (and branchlets) glabrous, rather crowded, decussate, broadly lanceolate, sub-acuminate, about 1 inch long (a few shorter), 2–2 ½ lines broad, spreading and deflexed from base, flat but slightly concave towards tip, sub-coriaceous, green above, sub-glaucous and veined below, midrib not prominent, petiolate; petioles 1 line long, white, broad, and adpressed to stem; floral leaves 3–4, much like the cauline but narrower. Flowers terminal on short young branchlets 1–2 inches long, closely compacted in heads of 10–25 flowers, white, erect at first but spreading in opening, villous without, shortly peduncled, peduncles rather stout and very hairy; tube infundibuliform, ½ inch long, quadrangular and channelled, constricted below the middle and again swelling at the base, yellowish above and pink below constriction, hairs very long at base; lobes of perianth patent, 2–2 ½ lines long, broadly elliptic, sub-acute, sub-convex or raised longitudinally in the middle, with margins slightly incurved, tips resolute and ciliate; stamens largely exserted, divergent; anthers oblong, obtuse, dark orange; style length of tube, sometimes exserted, finely

corrugated at base; stigma sub-penicillate; ovary oblong, glabrous, hairy at tip around base of style; hairs long, white.

Hab. Open hilly country in the interior, at Patea, between Napier and Tongariro; kindly sent me by Mr. A. Lascelles.

Obs. I have had but one small branch of this plant, containing, however, 10 heads of flowers. It seems to be a short, much branched shrub, presenting a Daphne-like appearance, and would make a pretty garden plant; flowers inodorous. A few perianths possess 3, and even 4, fertile anthers, while many have 2 abortive filaments (some only 1) in addition to the anther-bearing ones, of the same length, and opposite to the other 2 lobes of the perianth. As a species it is very distinct from the known New Zealand ones, (and more so from those of Australia,) but it approaches P. longifolia, Banks and Sol., and P. gnidia, Forst.

Genus 4. Australina, Gaudichaud.

1. A. hispidula, sp. nov.

Plant small; every part, including flowers, being more or less hispid; stems 3–4 inches long, stoutish, implexed, finely and closely retrorse-pubescent, procumbent, creeping, rooting at nodes; branches numerous, short, ascending, ¾–1 inch long. Leaves small, sub-reniform and sub-orbicular, always broader than long, truncate at base, 1–2 lines long, 1 ½–2 ½ lines broad, largely and regularly 5-crenate, hispid and rough with raised points and short white hairs, dark green above, pale below, veins very stout below, and with margins red; petioles rather long, slender, reddish; stipules 2 lines long, subulate, hairy, recurved. Male flower single, or 2–3 together, in upper axils on one long succulent peduncle, twice the length of petiole; perianth sessile, diverging, sub-boat-shaped, divided at middle into two concave lobes, the outer one the largest, membranaceous, bladdery, light-green splashed with red, margins irregularly crenulate, dark-green; stamen large, stout, glabrous, transversely ribbed on the back, much recurved; anther large, petaloid, pure white splashed with red on the outside. Female flower in lower axils, in pairs but separate, sub-sessile with two small coloured bracteoles; perianth ovate, sub-compressed, semi-transparent, light-green with a narrow dark-red margin, mouth somewhat 3-fid, tips laciniate; style and stigma excluded, as long as perianth, obtuse, recurved, brown, very shaggy, hairs flat and branched.

Hab. Sides of streams in shaded spots near Norsewood, County of Waipawa; 1883–85: W.C. Also eastern bases of Ruahine mountain range, same county; November, 1885: Mr. A. Hamilton.

Obs. A species very nearly allied to A. pusilla, Gaud. (which also grows plentifully in or near the same localities), but is very much smaller, and differs from that species in several particulars (vide descript.). I have occasionally found two perfect stamens issuing from one male perianth; and in a very few specimens, the female perianth in the upper axils above the male; and, in one instance, both male and female singly in one upper axil.

Genus 1. Earina, Lindley.

1. E. alba, sp. nov.

Stems stout, 8–10 inches long, sometimes branched at or near base. Leaves alternate, sessile, sub-linear-acuminate, acute, broadest near base, thickish, rather harsh and sub-rigid; petioles long, clasping, decurrent, extending to within the petiole below, black margined. Flowers terminal in compound panicles, 2–4 inches long, rather close-set, sub-distichous, each sub-panicle usually containing three flowers; bracts numerous, imbricated, striate, brown, the lower acuminate and fimbriate, the upper obtuse with a small mucro. Perianth pure white, 5–6 lines diameter, segments of equal length, spreading, recurved, obscurely 3-nerved, very obtuse; sepals ovate-oblong, margins entire; petals broadly obovate, crenulately notched on the middle of the upper margin; tip broadly oblong (or sub-5-sided), entire, obtuse or slightly retuse at apex, margins corrugated and incurved, two small ochraceous-yellow spots near the centre of tip, and two small greenish crescent-shaped calli beyond those spots and near the base. Column sub-hooded, tip ochraceous-yellow (exactly same hue as the two spots); appendages overhanging in front below anther, and produced in 4 small obtuse teeth and a minute tubercular wing on each side, with 2 minute mammillary-like dots in front, immediately below stigma. Ovary long, cylindrical, striate, twisted.

Hab. On edges of rocky cliffs and on dry stony declivities, and about the dry exposed roots of Fagus solandri; banks of River Mangatawhainui, Seventy-mile Bush, County of Waipawa; 1878–85: W.C.

Obs. This plant in appearance closely resembles E. autumnalis, Hook. fil., of which it may (by some botanists) be considered as a variety. It possesses, however, sundry characters which that species has not, or which, at all events, are not given in any published description of it that I have seen. Indeed, Hook. fil., says of the genus, “disk eglandular;” whereas the disk of this species possesses two crescent-shaped greenish calli. E. autumnalis, which is so very common in the woods at the N., is a larger and fresher-looking plant, with flowers “speckled and sweet-scented,” and is always epiphytical. Can difference

Leaves few; basal 2–3, green, erect, thickish, linear, very narrow, 5–6 inches long, less than 1 line wide, deeply channelled, margins conniving, very acuminate, tips piliferous; cauline 2, nearly equidistant, similar to basal but smaller, adpressed to stem, with large red-coloured membranaceous sheathing bracts at base, acuminate. Flowers 3–5, small, dark-red, thickish, rather distant, pedicelled in a short raceme at top of stem, the bract at base of pedicel broad, sheathing, membranaceous, ovate-acuminate, acute, 9–10 lines long, 3 lines broad, many nerved, not keeled. Dorsal sepal very broad, sub-quinquangulato-orbicular in outline, 5 lines long, 3 ½ lines broad, apex slightly obtusely-angled with a fine mucro, sub-10-nerved, margins thin, entire, incurved; lateral sepals very narrow, almost wiry, erect and curved, 8–9 lines long, deeply channelled, tips acute; petals thin, white, narrow-linear above, broad and spreading below, bifid at apex. Labellum heart-shaped, 4 lines long, 3 lines broad, slightly and finely transversely wrinkled, side margins incurved, tip acute; lateral lobes sub-ovate, obtuse, the middle lobe slightly larger, broadly-ovate-acuminate; the transverse callus at the base of the lateral lobes smooth, triangular, bifid at apex, and recurved towards column. Column, tip apiculate, sides conniving, the two lateral appendages finely subulate, rough.

Hab. Open grounds among fern, high clayey hills between Napier and Mohaka, Hawke's Bay; 1870–76: W.C. Glenross; 1885: Mr. D. P. Balfour (a single specimen only).

Obs. This plant has been long known to me; and, while I had my doubts as to its being identical with the northern form of this genus (O. solandri), mainly from the difference in colour, in its being more slender, and its general appearance, I never satisfied myself till this year; partly owing to my want of spcimens of the northern plant for comparison, as well as to my not possessing any full description of it, neither of the Australian species (O. strictum); for R. Brown, Lindley, A. Cunningham, and Sir J. D. Hooker, say very little about the two species. More recently, however, Bentham, in his “Flora Australiensis,” has gone fully into the Australian plant; and as now I have also A. Richard's full description of the New Zealand one, with a folio plate of drawings and dissections, I have closely examined and compared this species, and I find it to be (as I had supposed) different, and that in several characters. Bentham, however, states that the two long known plants of Australia and New Zealand are but one species. His words are: “The New Zealand plant does not appear to me to differ in the slightest particular” (loc. cit.). This may be the case with the old and early described New Zealand one; which, from description, drawing, and dissections by A. Richard, is very distinct from this species.

Genus 6. Arthropodium, Br.

1. A. reflexum, sp. nov.

Plant small, leaves many, 10–12, nearly flat, grass-like, membranaceous, green, glabrous, margins purple, sub-linear-lanceolate, acuminate, tips acute, 9 inches long, 3 lines wide, spreading, drooping, obsoletely veined, keeled below, half-clasping and deeply canaliculate at base, with margins conniving, bases (also those of pedicels and scape) thickly purple-spotted; scape 9–10 (or more) inches long, erect, sub-flexuous, very slender, almost filiform, less than ½ line diameter at base; cauline or floral leaves large, foliaceous, spreading, cernuous, sub-linear, acuminate, broadest near base, sessile, half-clasping, lowest 4 ½ inches long, 2 lines wide, upper 1 inch long and 1 line wide. Flowers distant, lowest internode 1 ¾ inches, alternate, somewhat sub-verticillate, axillary, (two together in lowest leafy bract only, but separate,) with a small, coloured, broad, and truncate membranaceous bracteole between pedicel and scape; raceme 6 inches long, 9–11 flowered; pedicels ¾ inch long, slender, drooping, jointed above the middle, lowest longest; perianth white, wholly and strictly reflexed and nodding (like Cyclamen); segments 6, sub-convex, 2 ½–3 lines long, green at bases; three outer, oblong-ovate, obtuse and thickened at tips, 3-nerved; three inner oblong, rumpled, sub-fimbriate above, emarginate; filaments white, much shorter than perianth, 1 ¾–2 lines long, slender, naked, more than ⅓rd length from base, densely hairy above, but not close up to anther, hairs very short at top, being gradually reduced in size upwards, large and bushy at middle, patent, moniliform, largely clavate and compound-branched; anthers pale, small, about ⅓rd line long, oblong, broadest at base, but not divergent, recurved at tips; style glabrous, erect, much longer than anthers, 2 lines long; stigma spreading, finely penicillate; ovarium green, glabrous, sub-oblong-globose, flattened at tips. Capsule (ripe) bluntly deltoid, 2 lines diameter, depressed, very membranous, green, much rugose from seeds; seeds many (15), broadly-oblong, turgid, slightly and irregularly sub-compressed, black, shining, very minutely dotted; funicle long, slender, adhering.

Hab. Shaded sides of mountain streams, Seventy-mile Bush, County of Waipawa; 1870–83: W.C.

Obs. I. This graceful little species is nearly allied to our other small New Zealand species, A. candidum, Raoul, and also to A. neo-caledonicum, Baker,^* differing, however, in several characters. I have long known this plant, and always suspected

it to be distinct from A. candidum; but not till this summer (January, 1885) did I obtain it in its flowering state, and then only by bringing its roots away last year from the woods and planting them in a flowering pot: they have grown well and rapidly.

Obs. II. This plant has some peculiar habits, which, having repeatedly noticed them, are worth recording. It only opens one flower at a time, beginning at the lowest, when the segments of its perianth quickly assume their tightly reflexed position, and its anthers are already bursting at their tips; it only remains open for one day, closing at nightfall, when the segments, etc., are closely and longitudinally appressed to the ovary, where they remain. The ovary rapidly swells, and its pedicel elongates. After the first lowest flower has flowered, the second one in the same axil (scarcely visible before) begins to lengthen its pedicel, but this did not expand. Its leaves begin early to wither at their tips, before the plant has opened one-third of its flowers.

Genus 3. Luzula, De Candolle.

1. L. sub-clavata, sp. nov.

A tufted erect herb, branching from the roots. Culms slender, sparingly leafy, 18–24 inches high. Leaves numerous, flat, and grass-like, 5–6 inches long, 2 lines wide, 16-nerved, with distant transverse nettings, apices thickened terete and sub-clavate, margins slightly and distantly serrulate, and sparsely ciliate with very long whitish hairs. Flowers in a long, loose, slender panicle of 2 (sometimes 3) sub-sessile broadly ovoid many-flowered heads, several inches apart; heads ½ inch diameter, simple or compound, on short pedicels, the lowermost head having 2–3 long narrow foliaceous bracts at base, their apices thickened and terete like those of the leaves, the uppermost head is usually bractless. Perianth small, 1 line long; segments ovate-acuminate, whitish-brown with a dark central line, much longer than capsule; stigmas long, flexuous, and rough. Capsule sub-ovoid, triquetrous, smooth, shining; valves broadly oblong-lanceolate, apiculate, with a strong central vein. Seeds oblong, turgid, darkish brown, shining, finely reticulate-striate, with a dark spot at tip, the hilum produced and puberulous, and a narrow white line forming the ventral suture. Bracteoles small, broadly ovate, white, shining, adpressed; tips minutely ragged with a mucro.

Hab. Dry woods, banks of River Mangatawhaiiti, between Norsewood and Danneverke, County of Waipawa; 1885: W.C.

Genus 4. Scirpus, Linn.

1. S. novæ-zealandiæ, sp. nov.

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Rhizome creeping, branched, woody; stems simple, and branched at base. Culm slender, 2 feet high, 1 line wide, trigonous, cylindrical at base, solid, smooth, pale sea-green. Leaves 3–4, much shorter, longest about half the length of culm, distant, linear, sub-grass-like, 1 ½ lines wide, smooth and same colour as culm, deeply channelled, sheathing, apices blunt, margins of tips scaberulous; sheaths long; ligula large, elliptic, membranous; sheathing bracts at base 3–5, broad, 3 lines wide, transversely netted, uppermost abruptly contracted at apex and cuspidate; cusp narrow linear, nearly 1 inch long. Spikelet solitary, lateral, broadly ovoid, 3–4 lines long, 1 ½ lines broad, sessile, dark red-brown, 12–15-flowered. Glumes broadly ovate, very concave, densely imbricate, membranaceous, very thin at margins, erose and sub-fimbriate towards apex, bifid, aristate, much keeled, red, glabrous, shining; outermost obsoletely 3-nerved, very broad and clasping, transversely wrinkled, finely fimbriate, largely and coarsely aristate. Involucral bract 1 ½–2 ¼ inches long, erect, continuing the culm and precisely like it, slightly hollowed into a sheath at the base, with short broken and scarious margins; tip flattened, sub-acute, margins scaberulous like leaves. Style long, blackish-brown; stigmatic branches 3, longer than style, flattened at bases, roughish, obtuse. Anthers linear-acuminate, with a long acuminate connective, truncate at base, light-yellow; filaments flat, 1-nerved, pale-coloured. Hypogynous bristles 3–4, shorter than nut, linear, obtuse, largely retrorse-scabrid, red-brown. Nut broadly obovoid, 1 1/10th of an inch long, tipped with a small black point remains of style, gibbous, flat on one side, smooth, shining, pale drab-brown minutely spotted with red; clustered and sessile in little niches around short thick sub-tetragonal spike, upper 3–4, small, abortive.

Hab. Sandy flats, low margins of rivers, Hawke's Bay; W.C. Near Puketapu; 1885: Mr. D. P. Balfour.

Obs. A species having affinity with another indigenous species, S. triqueter (of R. Brown), and of “Flora Novæ Zelandiæ,” and also of the “Handbook New Zealand Flora,” but said by Bentham not to be the S. triqueter of Linn., but to be S. pungens, Vahl, (“Flora Australiensis,”) differing, however, in several characters.

Genus 6. Isolepis, Brown.

1. I. reticularis, sp. nov.

Plant small, gregarious, loosely tufted, filiform, flaccid, sub-erect and drooping, light-green. Culms 5–8 inches long, sub-cylindrical, compressed, channelled on inner surface. Leaves

are also “broad, flat, 1-nerved, and obtuse at tips.” Moreover, the “stamens” or “filaments” are almost invariably represented as being three or four in number—sometimes, but rarely, six; I find them, however, to be usually double that number, viz., eight. I had both hoped and intended to have paid some close attention to this subject during this summer (1885–86), in their native woods, and in their proper season of first flowering, (which was also the reason of my not having more closely examined in that particular those species I have herein described,) but the great distance from me of their known habitats (nearly one hundred miles), and my time now being fully occupied with other matters, prevent my doing so. I would, therefore, recommend this study to those botanists in New Zealand who may have both time and opportunity of performing it; and that not merely for determining whether those elongated filaments (or some of them) are really hypogynous scales, but for the purpose of ascertaining the several forms of the connectives of the respective species.

Genus 46. Polytrichum, Linn.

1. P. ruahinicum, sp. nov.

Stems simple, erect, rather stout, sub-rigid, red, 1–2 inches high, about ½ inch of lower portion bare. Leaves numerous, spreading; lower slightly decurved, upper erect; linear-subulate, 5 lines long, smooth, softish, green, opaque, margin finely pellucid and sharply serrate to base; tips acute, brown; nerve stout; base much and suddenly dilated; basal cells minute, sub-orbicular, and double-walled, those of the dilated membranous portion larger, linear-oblong and rectangular, and single-walled. Fruit-stalk single, lateral, stout, 4 ½–5 inches long, stiff, red, glossy, very flexuous or tortuous (as many as sixteen large crinkles in a single seta). Capsule oblong, 3-sided, gibbous above, 2 ½ lines long, sub-erect, green, constricted below mouth, margin of mouth bright-red; operculum large, conical, very obtuse, pale; calyptra very small, reddish-brown, naked, base narrow and much lacerated, very slightly hairy near base and at extreme tip, but only perceptible under a good lens.

Hab. On sides of gulleys, eastern slopes of the Ruahine mountain range, County of Waipawa; November, 1885: Mr. H. Hill.

but very distinct. Leaves remarkably crisp and contracted when dry, but quickly resuming their natural appearance on being wetted.

2. H. maculata, sp. nov.

Plant small, ¾–1 ¼ inches high, erect, cæspitose, closely imbricate, much and sub-palmately branched; branches flat, broadest at top, decurved at tips; densely matted below with brown rootlets. Leaves sexfariously disposed, closely imbricate, broadly elliptic, 1 ½ lines long, all nearly alike, spreading; young leaves pale green, when old spotted at tips of a bronze colour, or each tip bearing a round spot of that colour; margins entire, but under a high power delicately and regularly denticulate; nerve red, very stout at base, extending about ⅘ths of leaf, slightly forked near tip; cells sub-orbicular, excessively small except at the centre from middle downwards; there large, open, increasing in size to base, the basal cells sub-quadrately-oblong. Fruit-stalk very short, 1 ½–2 lines long, black, twisted, flexuous, glossy, thickened at base; few. Capsule minute, about ½ line long, obovate-oblong, sub-erect (horizontal when dry), finely reticulate, sub-tuberculate, sub-apophysate, blackish-brown, glossy, thickened at base. Operculum and calyptra not seen.

Hab. Shaded spots, base eastern slopes of Ruahine mountain range, County of Waipawa; 1885: Mr. H. Hill.

Obs. An interesting little species; its regularly spotted appearance giving it a peculiar aspect. It differs much from the other New Zealand species of this genus, its nearest ally being H. sciadophila, Col. I have received a large tuft of it from Mr. Hill, containing many plants, but as there were only three fruiting specimens, I did not break up one of them to ascertain the structure of the peristome and perichætial leaves. When the old leaves below decay, or are gnawed by some insect, the red nerves are left, presenting another peculiar appearance.

Genus 7. Gottschea, Nees.

1. G. dichotoma, sp. nov.

Plant large, procumbent and sub-pendulous, dichotomous, 8–9 inches long, much branched; branches repeatedly forked, spreading largely, leafy, 1–5 inches long, ½ inch wide, light-green, flaccid; stems stout, cylindrical, woody, blackish, naked and rigid below. Leaves somewhat distant, free, imbricated, oblong-ovate, finely serrulate; ventral (or under) obtuse, very thin, flat, not plaited, ciliate on upper basal margin; dorsal (or upper) wavy, rumpled, margins slightly irregular, upper basal portion very broad, round, and overlapping, apex very acute, free; in their axils 2–3 small, narrow scale-like leaves, much ciliated. Stipules large, nearly 2 lines wide, situate within (or