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Gen. I I I . FENTACHONDRA, * • .
Calyx bracteis 4 plirabiisve. CoroUa iiifundibulifonnis ; limbo patente, longitudinaliter dense barbato.
Ovarium 5-loculare. Bacca 5.pyrena.
The only New Zealand species is also found in the mountains of Tasmania. It forms a glabrous, much branched,
little shrubby plant, 2-3 inches high, growing amongst moss, etc., in a tufted manner. Leaves 1-2 lines long,
glossy, coriaceous, concave, elliptical, blunt, three- to five-nerved, with obscurely ciliate cartilaginous margins.
Flotcers large for the size of the plant, sessile, solitary, twice as long as the leaves ; mouth of corolla open, densely
bearded. Berries large or oblong, round, hollow, with five seeds. (Name from ttcrrn,/ae, and xorbpos, a seed.)
1. Fentachondra pumila, Br. ; fruticulus glaberrimus, ramosus, depressus, foliis imbricatis coriaceis
mtidis ellipticis elliptico-ovatisve obtusis concavis marginibus cartilagineis subciliatis 3- 5-nerviis, calycibus
4-bracteatis. Br. Prodr. A. Cmm. Prodr. Epacris pumila, Forst. Prodr.
Hab. Common on tbe mountains of all tbe Islands, Forster, etc.
Gen. IV. EFACRIS, Smith.
Cafy;!! multibracteatus. Cbroffo tubulosa; limbo imberbi. « ( « ¿ « epipetala; aæMerii supra medinm
peltatis. Squamulæ hypogyuæ 5. Ovarium 5-loculare ; ovulis plurimis, columnæ centrali quovis loculo
affixis.
A large Australian and Tasmanian genus of often very beautiful plants, of which the few New Zealand speeies
are inconspicuous as regards flowers.—Rigid, erect, usually smooth, heath-like shrubs, with axillary ilowers. Pedicels
covered with numerous coriaceous bracts scarcely distinguishable from the calyx. Corolla tirbular; limb glabrous.
Anthers peltate, on short filaments, placed near the mouth of the corolla, Hypogynous scales five. Ovary five-
celled, with a central column in each cell, to the apex of which the ovules are attached. Capsule coriaceous. (Name
from ewi, upon, and aspic, a mountain ; in allusion to the native place of some of the species.)
1. Pjgacris panciflora, A. Eich. ; fruticulus erectus, strictus, ramis foliosis virgatis, foliis erectis patulisve
subimbricatis rhombeo-ovatis subacutis integerrimis obscure venosis concavis crassis, floribus versus apices
ramulorum plurimis axillaribus solitariis, pedunculis multibracteatis, corollæ tubo calycc vix æquilongo,
staminibus inclusis. A. Rich. Flora. A. Cunu. Prodr. BC. Prodr.
Hab. Northern Island; abundant on dry hills. Banks and Solander, etc.
k twiggy slender shrub, a foot or so high, simple or branched in a fasciculate manner, perfectly glabrous
everywhere. Leaves small, hardly 4 inch long, numerous, loosely imbricating or recurved, rhomboid-ovate, rather
suddenly contracted into a sharp or blunt point, very thick and coriaceous, with quite entire smooth margius and
faint veins. Flowers numerous towards the ends of the branches, solitary in the axils of leaves that are sometimes
larger than the rest. Peduncles short, stiff, clothed with very numerous ovate, acute, imbricating bracteolæ.
Flowers small, white, l i line long, sunk in the ovate sharp calyx-lobes. Fruit a small five-celled, many-seeded
capsule.—A very common plant, rather variable in habit, but constant in its main characters.
2. Epacris alpina. Hoot, fil.; fruticulus ramosus, ramis erectis cicatricatis, foliis patulis late ellipticis
ovatisve obtusis glaberrimis crassis coriaceis concavis aveniis, floribus solitariis axillaribus, pedicellis brevibus
paucibracteatis, bracteis late ovatis obtusis.
H.ab. Northern Island ; iu mountainous situations. Base of Tongariro, BidwiU, Colenso.
Very similar to B. paucijlora, but a smaller plant, with shorter, broader, blunter leaves, and very short peduncles,
which bear only five or six very broad blunt bracteolæ.
3. Epacris? racemosa, Hook, fil.; ramis puberulis virgatis, foliis subverticillatis patentibus obovato-
oblougis subacutis planis enerviis coriaceis reticulatim venosis, floribus racemosis breve pedicellatis 2-brac-
teatis?, racemo puberulo, bracteis caducis?, calycis lobis oblongis obtusis striatis margine late scariosis
ciliatis, corolla campanulata limbo patente, filamentis inter lobos insertis, ovario 5-loculari, ovulis plurimis
columnæ asceiidenti affixis.—An novum genus ?
Hab. Great Barrier Island, Capt. D. Rough (communicated by Br. Sinclair).
Of this very remarkable plant I have but one fragment without anthers, presenting, however, so many marked
characters, distinguishing it from any Epacrideous plant known to me, that I have not hesitated to record it as a new
species ; having little doubt, however, that it is generically different from Epacris. The habit is that of a broadleaved
Leucopogon, but the structure of the ovarium removes it from the one-ovuled section of the Order to that containing
Epacris itself. It differs from the last-named genus in the few bracteolæ, and remarkably in habit, but
agi'ees with it in the five-cellcd ovarium with many ovules in each cell, attached to an erect columnar placenta.
Leaves fascicled at intervals, appearing whorled, 1 inch long, 4 broad, spreading, coriaceous, flat, obovate,
rather acute, striated with reticulated veins, quite glabrous on both sides and on the margins. Raceme
(the only one I have seen) terminal, nodding, pubescent, eight- to ten-flowered, as long as the leaf. Mowers
drooping, white, nearly 4 inch broad, on short pedicels 1 line loug. Bracteæ one or two (perhaps more), caducous.
Calyx lobes oblong, blunt, striated, with membranous ciliated margins. Corolla campanulate, with spreading,
ovate, slightly ciliated, blunt lobes ; tube longer than the calyx. Stamens inserted at the mouth of the corolla.
Style very short, stout, included. Stigma five-lobed. Glands surrounding the ovarium five, lobed.
Gen. V. DRACOPHYLLUM, Lah.
Calyx 5-phyllus, bracteatus. CoroUa tubuloso-infundibuliformis ; loborum apicibus incurvis, iniberbi-
bus. Stamina 5 (speciebus Novæ Zelandiæ corollæ adnata). Squamæ hypogynæ 5. Capsula 5-locularis.
Semina columnæ centrali pendulæ adnata.—Frútices v. arbores, ramis cicatricatis annulatis. Folia hasi va-
ginantia, gramínea v. suhulata. Flores racemosi, panicidati, v. spicati.
Shrubs or large trees, confined to New Caledonia, Australia, and the New Zealand Islands, and abounding in the
latter country, very scarce in the others. Leaves usually very narrow, grassy, sheathing, when falling away leaving
ringed scars on the branches. Infiorescence racemose, spicate, or paniculate. Flowers bracteate, white. Calyx of
five, hard, coriaceous leaves. Corolla with a broad tube and five spreading lobes, curved in at the point, quite
glabrous. Stamens inserted on the corolla iu the New Zealand speeies, hypogynous in the Australian and New Caledonian.
Ovary five-cellcd, with five glands at its base. Ovules many, attached to a column which hangs down in
each cell.—This fine genus forms a prominent feature in the New Zealand Flora, the species being very numerous,
abundant in individuals, and occurring from the sea-coast to the mountain-tops, and both on the wet and dry
coasts. Some of them arc very diflicult to distinguish specifically, others are well-marked. (Name from BpoKw,
a dragon, and <hv\Xov, a leaf; from tbe analogy between this plant and Bracæna, to which Labillardiere at one time
thought it albed.)
§ a. Flowers panicled. Bracts deciduous. Calyx much shorter than the tube of the corolla. (D. Menziesii has
sometimes racemes.)
I . Dracophyllum latifolinni, A. Cunn.; arboreum, foliis I4-pedabbus concavis longissime lanceolato-
subulatis subfiexuosis (pro genere latis) serrulatis in vagiuam glaberrimam gradatim dilatatis, panicula effusa
Ilutante pilosa demum glabrata, floribus parvis, foliolis calycinis pubesceutibus late ovatis, capsulis parvis.
A. Cunn. Prodr. BC. Frodr. Fl. Antarct. Epacris longifolia. Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic.
Hab. Northern Island; common iu woods. Banks and Solander, etc.