Art. XXXV.—A Description of some Newly-discovered Indigenous Plants, being a Further Contribution towards the making known the Botany of New Zealand.

By Colenso, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.

seasons too; but never found it bearing either flower or fruit, in spite of all my researches.

II. This species is allied (though not very closely, judging from its leaves and branches) to M. scandens, Banks and Sol.; but that species has larger thick recurved sessile dark-green leaves, pubescent when young, glandular only on their lower surface, and tomentose branches.

Genus 1. Gaultheria, Linn.

1. G. multibracteolata, sp. nov.

Plant (apparently) a stoutish shrub, my specimens of forked branches being 5in.-6in. long; bark pale, glabrous, shining. Leaves opposite, petiolate, ovate, 1in.-1 ½in. long, slightly cordate (those on lower stem broader and more cordate), pale-green, coriaceous, glabrous, tip subacute, thickened, margins crenate-serrate with sharp black teeth, veins much reticulate; petioles short, stoutish; young leaves mem-branaceous and bright-red, with a few long coarse flexuous reddish hairs scattered on veins below. Flowers in small few-branched compact terminal panicles 1 ½in. long; branches

short, few-flowered, with many bracteoles between the flowers; the bracts at bases of branches of panicle large, broadly deltoid, pale, conspicuous, with coarse and close erect black bristle-teeth at margins; pedicels stout, curved, sub 2 lines long, with several (3 or more) small bracteoles within the large and pale bract at their bases. Calyx (sometimes 6-lobed), lobes deltoid, glabrous, subacute. Corolla pale-red, 2 lines long, lobes blunt, tips recurved, each lobe with 1 strong middle vein and 3 parallel veinlets on each side roundly united below base of anther and branched above. Stamens sublanceolate, slender, broadest near base, thickly muricated; anthers short gibbous, with each forked awn springing from a single narrow stem arising from tip of anther. Style slightly capitate, penicillate. Capsules small, dry, on long spreading pedicels.

Hab. Interior hilly country near Taupo; 1889: Mr. H. Mill.

Obs. This species has close affinity with G. oppositifolia, Hook., but its differential characters appear to me to be strong. Its leaves are much smaller, and of a different shape, more sharply serrate with hard black prickly points, hairy below, petiolate, and not stem-clasping—which is so prominent a feature in that species; its panicle of flowers is also smaller and much more compact, with different bracts bearing bristly margins, and a larger number of bracteoles; its flowers, too, are larger and coloured reddish; and its anthers have very differently-shaped awns.

Genus 1. Myosotis, Linn.

1. M. subvernicosa, sp. nov.

Plant perennial, ascending, 6in.-18in. high, strigosely hairy; hairs white, closely adpressed, very thick on upper part of raceme; lower stem woody, subprostrate, much branched above; branches compound, slender, flexuous, erect, each usually bearing long terminal virgate racemes. Stem-leaves thin, sub-linear-ovate, very obtuse, 1 ½in. long, 3–5 lines wide, sessile, amplexicaul, midrib thick at base, margins coloured and ciliolate; hairs on upper surface stout, subulate, acute, the leaf at their bases of a different colour submuricated and shining as if varnished. Racemes axillary, slender, 4in.-8in. long. Flowers 12–24, distant 4–6 lines apart, alternate; pedicels sub-secund, 3 lines long, patent. Calyx large, 5-lobed; lobes cut nearly to middle, ovate, subacute, 1-nerved, 2 lines long in fruit, much expanding; hairy within; with shining dots at bases of hairs on outside as in leaves; the base of calyx dark-coloured. Corolla small, 11 ½in. diameter, pale-blue

on the upper surface with a yellow eye, and pink on the out-side; lobes spreading, elliptic-orbicular, tips retuse; tube nearly as long as limb; anthers included small; processes at mouth of tube very small and crenulate. Seeds 4, large, cordate-orbicular, flattish, shining, pale-brown (dark mature), margins thin produced dark-brown.

Hab. Sides of streamlets, low grassy plains, south of Dannevirke, County of Waipawa; 1891: W. C.

Obs. A species having affinity with some of our British species, but differing from them in several characters. It was late in the season when I detected this plant, and so failed to obtain radical leaves.

Genus 7. Veronica, Linn.

1. V. macrocalyx, sp. nov.

Plant herbaceous, densely gregarious, perennial (or biennial), glabrous, small, 3in.-4in. high, usually simple, erect, sometimes branched and ascending, and when so the slender decumbent branches are rooting below; stem and peduncles puberulent. Leaves scattered, lowermost broadly elliptic (or broadly oblong-ovate), 3 ½–4 ½ lines long, 3-nerved, margins slightly and sparsely crenate-notched, petioles short, slender; upper stem-leaves smaller and narrower, margins entire, sub-sessile. Flowers at top, axillary, single, alternate, rather distant; peduncle 2 lines long, erect. Calyx large, leaf-like, 4-cleft nearly to base, much larger than corolla, spreading; lobes oblong, obtuse, 1-nerved, margins entire. Corolla patent, 2 lines diameter, oblate-orbicular, white (bluish before expanding), the 3 larger lobes sub-orbicular-ovate with blue-purple longitudinal lines (the upper lobe having 6–8 and the lateral lobes 2 lines on each), the lower lobes much smaller oblong-spathulate, white; tube very short, the faux yellowish, hairy, hairs patent. Anthers large, cordate, exserted, blue; stamens stout, white; stigma capitate, penicillate. Capsule pale-fawn, large, compressed, obcordate-orbicular, 2 lines wide, deeply notched, glabrous, margins subacute glandular-hairy. Seeds numerous, broadly elliptic, compressed, pale.

Hab. Open grounds, in grassy spots, forming large patches, banks of River Manawatu, near Te Hautotara (Maori) village, four miles south of Dannevirke, County of Waipawa; late autumn, 1891: W. C.

2. V. rugulosella, sp. nov.

Plant small, herbaceous, annual, simple, erect, 6in.-8in. high, slender, sometimes rooting at lower leaf-nodes, stem and

4. V. hirsuta, sp. nov.

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Plant annual, small, herbaceous, weak, pale-green, very hairy; rootlets numerous, exceedingly slender, long, hair-like; stem simple, erect, 2in.-3in. (rarely 4in.-5in.) high, sometimes branched from near base; branches ascending, slender, reddish-brown; hairs white, jointed, irregularly long and patent on stems, their bases broad and shining on leaves, Leaves petiolate, few, very thin, broadly ovate, 3–4 lines long, margins cut-serrate, tip subacute, base subtruncate, 5-nerved; petioles short. Flowers 10–12, axillary in upper part of stem and branches, pretty close together; peduncles short about 1 line long, erect. Calyx 4-lobed; lobes irregular, 2 large and 2 small, broadly lanceolate, cut nearly to base, much ciliate, the 2 smaller ones length of capsule, the larger pair much longer. Corolla pale, small, 1/10in. long, 6-yeined, tube very short; stamens short; anthers included, reniform, bluish. Style short, not reaching to outer margin of capsule; stigma small. Capsule obcordate, 1/10in. broad, deeply notched, glabrous, pale-fawn, ciliolate. Seeds very minute, sub-obovate-oblong, slightly convex, pale-yellowish, 9–10 in a cell.

Hab. On open plains, among grasses and small herbage, south of Dannevirke, County of Waipawa; 1889: W. C.

Obs. I have diligently compared these four small species of Veronica with the similar British species of this genus (as described and drawn by Hooker, Sowerby, and Bentham); and, although in some few and minor particulars they correspond with those northern species, they differ largely in the more important and grave characters. I regret that I did not obtain any specimens of them in their early flowering state, though had I only done so I should have missed their ripe fruit.

Genus 1. Plantago, Linn.

1. P. dasyphylla, sp. noy.

Plant perennial, small, tufted, gregarious; rootstock thick, hairy; hairs dense, rather long, fine, pale-reddish-brown; rootlets very long, descending. Leaves suberect, 10–14, of various lengths, narrow-oblong-lanceolate, 1in.-1 ¾in. long, 3–4 lines wide, tip subacute, thickened, gradually tapering into petiole, thin, green (sometimes reddish), margins red, entire (sometimes with 2 small blunt sinuate teeth on each side), very hairy on both surfaces and at margins, but most so on the under-surface; hairs scattered, tortuous, thickish, articulated; petioles ¾in.-1 ¼in. long, slender, flattish, slightly hairy (hairs as those of leaves), bases much dilated and having long reddish-brown hairs. Scapes 1–4 (usually 3) to a plant, erect, much longer than leaves, 3in.-5in. long, very slender