lD*„
superne concave ; epicarpium crustaceum ; endocarpium comeum v. osseum ; sarcocarpimn suberosura. Loculi
3 -4, valde compress!, axi contrarii. Semen parvum, late ovato-eUipticum. plano-compressum, versus axin obtuse
angulatum, loculum totum implens. Testa membranácea, pallide fusca. Albumen copiosum, farinaceo-corneum,
albidum. Embryo minutissimus. pyriforinis ; radícula supera, hilo próxima ; cotylcdones breves, divaricata-,
obtus®.
One of tlie most handsome and singular of the vegetable productions in the group of islands it inhabits,
which certainly contains a greater proportion of large and beautiful plants, relatively to the whole vegetation, than
any country with which I am acquainted. Growing in large orbicular masses, on rocks and banks near the
sea, or amongst the dense and gloomy vegetation of the woods, its copious bright green foliage and large umbels
of waxy flowers, often nearly a foot in diameter, have a most striking appearance. The pretty black berries on
tbe white and withered stalks of the former year’s umbels form a curious contrast to the shining waxy appearance
of the rest of the inflorescence. The whole plant has a heavy and rather disagreeable rank smell, common
to many of its Nat. Order, but is nevertheless greedily eaten by goats, pigs and rabbits.
Beautiful as is the plate of Aralia polaris in the French South Polar Voyage above quoted, and faithfully
as it represents the leaf and umbel, the insertion of both immediately upon the rooting stem, without the intervention
of branches, and the absence of the great ligules, are quite unlike what is exhibited by my specimens.
It is possible th a t the letter-press may account for this and some other apparent inaccuracies; but although the
plates have been in our possession for nearly a twelvemonth, I cannot learn that any descriptive matter has
hitherto appeared.—The above particulars of the plant, and the analysis, were drawn up from living specimens ;
and although the drawings, made at the same time from the recent plant, are not of sufficient novelty to justify
their introduction amongst the plates of the present work, I have deemed it desirable to give them in the ‘ leones
Plantarum’ (vol. viii. tab. 701. ined.).
XIV. R U B IA C E ^ , Juss.
1. CoPUOSMA fcBtidissima, F o r s t .; a rb o re a , g lab errima , foliis p e tio la tis exacte elliptico-oblon-
gis o b tu sis ap icib u s vix m u c ro n a tis, floribus te rm in a lib u s solitariis, baccis su b ro tu n d is sessilibus.—
(T a b . X I I I .) C. fcEtidissima, For«?. P ro ifr. n . 138. DeC. P ro ifr. vol. iv. p. 578. A . R ic k . Flor. Nov.
Z e l. p. 261. A . Cunn. P ro d r . Flor. Nov. Z e l. I. c. vol. ii. p . 206.
H a b . L o rd Au ck lan d ’s g ro u p ; in th e woods n e a r th e sea, also ascen d in g in th e valleys to 900
feet.
This is a perfectly distinct plant, though confounded by Cunningham (as his specimens in Herb. Heward
prove) with the C. lucida, Forst. It is probably a very abundant species in the middle and southern islands of
New Zealand, where, however, it had until quite lately been gathered by Forster alone, in Queen Charlotte’s
Sound. It has been more recently detected on the mountainous interior of the Northern Island by Mr. Colenso,
whose specimens (n. 117) are rather less robust, with the leaves narrower and more membranaceous. It is one
of the few large-leaved species with truly solitary and sessile flowers and berries. In this group of islands it
often attains a height of 20 feet, with a trunk H ^ o t in diameter. The whole plant, especially when bruised
or when drying, exhales an exceedingly fetid odour, much resembling th a t of the flowers of Hibhertia volubilis.
I brought on board the “ Erebus” specimens of this with other plants, late one evening, and finding that there
were more tender species, which took a considerable time to lay in paper, than I could well get through that night,
1 locked this Coprosma in a small close cabin until I should have leisure to press it, but before half an hour had
elapsed the smell was intolerable, and had pervaded the whole of the lower deck. The leaves, though very-
constant in form, vary much in size, and in the alpine specimens are scarcely more than inch long.
P la t e XIII. Fig. 1, longitudinal section o f a ripe berry showing the nucules ; fig. 2, lateral, imdfig. 3, back
view of a nucule removed ; fig. 4, longitudinal section of do. ; fig. 5, front, and fig . 6, lateral view o f the seed removed
from the n u cu le ;/jf. 7, longitudinal section o f seed, showing the embryo ;fig .8 , cotyledons:— all magnified.
2. C o p r o sm a affinis, Ho o k . fil. ; a rb o rea , g lab e rrim a , foliis p e tio la tis e llip tico -lan ceo latis acutis,
floribus te rm in a lib u s solitariis sessilibus. (T a b . X IV .)
H a b . L o rd A u ck lan d ’s g ro u p ; in low woods n e a r th e sea.
This plant, which I found only in the state of young fruit, is so nearly allied to the preceding, th a t it is
not without much hesitation I retain it as a distinct species, which I do on the ground of there being, in a large
suite of specimens of C. foetidissima, none with the leaves intermediate in form between th a t species and the present.
It may be readily recognised by the larger and longer leaves, which are decidedly acuminated a t the apex :
its season of flowering too seems to he different.
Plate XIV. Fig. 1, an immature berry :— magnified.
3 . C o p r o sm a cuneata. H o o k . fil. ; fru tico sa , g lab ra , ram is a tte n u a tis rig id is , ram u lis p u b e s-
c entibus, foliis fasciculatis p a n d s rig id is coriaceis an g u s te cu n e a tis apice em a rg in a to -tru n c a tis sessilibus
enerviis su b tu s p allid io rib u s, stip u lis apice b a rb a tis , floribus so litariis, fru c tib u s in ram u lis
u ltimis te rm in a lib u s solitariis globosis. (T a b . XV.)
/3. foliis lo n g io rib u s, apice ro tu n d a tis .
H a b . L o rd A u ck la n d ’s g ro u p an d C am p b e ll’s Is la n d ; in woods n e a r th e sea. I n rav in e s
a t an a ltitu d e o f 900 feet on th e forme r, a n d n e a r th e sea in Campbell’s Is lan d .
The investigation of the genus Coprosma, and especially of the small-leaved species, is attended with very
great difficulty. 'Those of the extreme southern parts of the New Zealand group seem different from such as
inhabit the northern islands, and these again from the Australian and Tasmanian kinds. In each locality, however,
the forms seem so protean, that more than words is required to assist in their determination, whilst the
paucity oi specimens hitherto received has obliged botanists to separate dissimilar specimens of what a more
copious supply might prove to belong to the same plant. It is to avoid any further confusion th a t I have ventured
to figure three species, of which I have no materials for such au analysis of the flow-er and fruit as a good
botanical drawing should possess. The C. cuneata, in its ordinary form especially, appears one of the most
distinct of these, and has the leaves invariably very blunt, larger at the upper extremity, and then retuse or
decidedly notched : they are rigid and coriaceous in texture, and very uniform in size. In the woods near the
sea it forms a remarkably harsh, woody, and repeatedly branched shrub, whose stems are often 2 inches in diameter
at the base, and covered with a rough black bark. The pale, but bright, red of the berries, which are
abundantly produced, forms a very pretty contrast amongst the deep shining foliage.
P late XV. Fig. 1, ripe berries ; fig. 2, longitudinal transverse section of do.; fig. 3, nucules removed
from the berry ; fig. 4, transverse section of a nucule ; fig. 5, front ; and fig. 6, side view o f seed ; fig. 7, longitudinal
section of do. showing the embryo :— all magnified.
: 4. C o p r o sm a m y rtillifo lia . Ho o k . fil. ; fru tico sa , ram u lis p u b e sc en ti-c in e re is, foliis subfasci-
• culatis parvis la to-lanceolatis su b carn o sis brevissime p e tio la tis acu tiu scu lis g la b ris su b tu s obscure
nervosis, baccis solitariis.
H a b . L o rd A u ck lan d ’s g ro u p ; in rav in es ab o u t 6 0 0 fe e t above th e sea.
A small and almost leafless bush, which, like its congeners, is very apt to vary in its mode of growth. In
the ordinary state it grows 3-4 feet high, and from the lower parts of the stems and branches being bare of