: I
flowers; those of the foliage are very variable, and the allied Dmcæms vary extremely in habit, according to the
situation they grow in. °
8. Cordyline indivisa, Kunth; trunco arboreo indiviso, fobis late lanceolatis valde crassis et coriacei.s,
panícula nutante densifiora ramis crassis, floribus densissime congestis.—A a tó , Enumeratio .
Dracæna indivisa, Ernst, etc.
H ab. Northern and Middle Islands. Dusky Bay, Eorster. Foot of Euahine mountains,
Thomson’s Sound, Lyall. Nat. name, “ Tikapu,” Col.
Trunk 10 feet high according to Colenso (SO in the Middle Island), nearly a foot in diameter, undivided
f e /v e ry thick and coriaceous. 4-6 feet long, 6 inches broad, often glaucous helow. Panicle 4 feet long, stout,
drooping. Branches 8-10 inches long, very stout, densely covered with crowded pedicellate flowers. Perianth
white. beU-shaped ; segments oblong, i inch long, recurved.—Mr. Colenso says that the fibre of the trunk of this
plant IS extensively used in the manufacture of mats and garments, called “ Toii," of which he has communicated
one now exhibited in the Kew Museum of Economic Botany.
Geu. VI. HEEPOLIEION, Eooh fil.
I spathis inclusum, 6-partitum, tubuloso-campannlatum ; laciniis subæqualibus, bnearibus.
3 ; filamentis fibformibus, puberubs y. glabratis ; antheris basi afflxis, demum subtortis. Ovarium
3-loculai-e, oblongum, locubs multiovulatis; stylo fibfotmi; stigmate simplici.—Herbæ Tasmaniæ et Novæ
Zelandiæ; rbizomate radicante; m i s pollicaribus, linearibus, acuminatis, suhylaucescentihus, hasi
vaginantibus; floribus i unc. longis, solitariis, ireve pedicellatis, spathis erectis.— Gawxs Sti/pandree
proximum.
SmaU tufted herbs, alhed to Stypandra of Australia, with wiry, creeping, underground stems, sending down
fibrous roots, and having very short erect scapes, covered with the sheathing bases of linear recurved or spreading
glauoons leaves, which are 1 inch long, acuminate, striate, folded down the middle, and appearing terete. FtowJs
yellow m H. Novoe-ZeUndia, solitary, almost sessile amongst the leaves, i - x inch long; bud enclosed in a spatha-
ceous bract. Segments of the perianth Hnear, tips spreadmg. Stamens six-, Plaments pubescent. Ovaty three-
celled, with many ovules and one fllifoim style.-The other species (II. Tasmania) resembles this very closely but
IS larger and has two or three spathes. (Name from ip™, to creep, and Xipiov, a lily.)
1. Herpolirion Novee-Zetandice, Hook. fil.
Hae. Northern Island. Plains near Taupo, Colenso.
Gen. VII. ASTELIA, Banks et Sol.
Flores polygamO-dioici. FeriantUum subglumaceum, campanulatum v. rotatum, 6-partitum sericeum
Stamina 6. Ovarium 3-gonum, 1 - v. 3-loculare; ovulis plurimis paucisve; stylo brevi v. nullo; stigmate
• 3-lobo. plurima V. pauca; testa crnstacea, atra, nitida ; embryo brevis.
A very remarkable genus, common in New Zealand, of which a few species are found in Oahu, one in Euegia,
and another in Tasmania. All are densely tufted herbs, with a short creeping rhizoma, and very long leaves, moi-:
or less covered with shaggy wool or silvery hairs. The large kinds form a conspicuous feature on the lofty New
Zealand forest-trees, where, growing epiphytioGly on branches, they resemble gigantic birds’ nests ; tlie smaller
kinds inhabit marshes. The species being dicecious, I have had great difficulty in matching the sexes ; nor could 1
have done this but for the drawings and descriptions of Banks and Solander, who alone, of all New Zealand
collectors, seem to have attended to this point ; as it is, I would warn the student of laying too much stress on my
characters taken from the male plants. Cunningham confused all the species and sexes, examined none, aud
referred at random to Banks and Solander’s drawings and notes, substituting names of his own for theirs The
species with one-ceUed ovaries and parietal placentæ cannot be generically separated from those with three cells am
■ axüe placentæ; it is indeed sufficiently difficult to distinguish A. Cunninghamii specifically from A. Bank.su withou
a careful dissection of the ovary, as in the former the placentæ project considerably, but do not meet m the axis.
Were it not however for the A. Cunninghamii on the one hand, and the Euegian A.pumiU on the other, the one-
celled small species (A. linearis and alpina of Tasmama) would be conveniently and naturally separated generically
these being alpine and marsh plants, with very few-flowered panicles, one-celled ovaries and parietal plaoenlæ. and
terete seeds; but A. Cunninghamii has the same characters of the fruit, with a branched habit and epiphytic mode
of vrowtb, whilst the Fuegian A. pumila has the habit of A. linearis and A. alpina, with a three-celled fruity
Pkmers silky or chafiy. in branched, leafy, or bracteate racemes or panicles. Female Panwles with the branches
shorter, stouter, and rarely divided. Perianth of the male flower campanulate or rotate, deeply six-lobed ; of the
female rotate or nreeolate. sometimes surrounding the fmit, Stamem six, mdimentaiy in the female flowers ; Ma-
ments subulate or filiform; anthers Unear or broad. Pollen eUiptical. Berry globose or ovoid, with a short stjle
and three-lobed stigma, generally fuU of transparent gluten, which exudes from dehcate long jointless tubes, that
proceed in masses from the placentæ, and often cover the umhihcal cord also*. (Name from anrcXixov. wanting a
stem or trunk.)
5 a. Perianlh of the female pw e r not enlarged nor enclosing the ripe fruit. Berry unilocular. Seeds terete.
1 Astelia amningliamii. Hook, fil.; foliis elongatis subulatis multinerviis utrinque sericeis glabratisve,
paniculis sericeo-viUosis, mase, effusis, ramis elongatis, periantlüi glabrati laciniis snbnlato-lanceolatis,
antheris late o b lo n g is ,/« . panicula subcoarctata, ramis brevioribus, ovario globoso 1 -loculari, placentis
parietalibus, stigmate sessili S-lobo, bacca globosa periantbio persistente suffulta, seminibus 6-8 placentis
parietalibus versus apicem loculi pendulis curvis lineari-clavatis teretibus atris.
H ab. Tlirougbout the Northern Island, common, usually on Mmbs of trees, Cunnmgham, etc. - at.
name, “ Kowhara-whara,” Col.
This species very closely resembles A. Banksii, with which it is confounded in Cunningham’s herbarium
but from which it differs in the larger male flowers, globose oiie-oelled ovary witb a short style aud panetal
ovules much smaUer globular fruit (about x incli diameter), and Hnear, terete, curved seeds. Leaves 2-o feet
long, variable in breath (^-1 iuch) plaited, silky on both surfaces, or silvery and glabrous, sometimes vUlous.
Peduncle of male flowers 1 -lx foot long, angled, flexuose, shaggy with silky wool (tawny when dry), branches scattered
alternate, 8-12 inches long. Flowers iiiiinerous, one to three together. Perianth rotate. I mch across :
segments aeumiiiate (red-brown when dry). Peduncle of femah flowers a foot long, branches crowded, 3-8 mches
lonv Floioers crowded ; perianth Hke that of the males. Ovary globose, with a short style. Ovules from the
upjer part of three parietal placentæ; cavity of the ovary full of a gluten formed by a multitude of jointless tubes
or hairs of excessive delicacy that project from the funiculi and placentæ, and breaking up exude a transparent glue
(this character is common to several other species). Seeds linear, terete, narrower towards the funiculus, curved ;
testa thick, black, shining; embryo small, conical; at germination the embryo pushing forward breaks away the
apex of the seed opposite to it, which falls off like a Httle black lid ; in doing this it is aided by the expanding force
if the swelling albumen.-I have what may be another species, closely aUied to this, with larger panicle and flowers,
the fcmffie panicle efl’use and like the male, and its branches divided, and the half-ripe ovaría larger; but my
specimens arc insufficicut to describe it. and I rather think it only a large specimen of A. Canninghamii, with
possibly monoecious inflorescence : it was found near the Bay of Islands by Cunmnghani.
* Tliese tubes arc similar to those wWeli proceed from the moistened surface of Garden Cress (and other Cruciferous)
seeds, and from the achenia of some Compositæ. Similar tubes are commonly seen m the trmt of some
epiphytical tribes of Orchideæ (as Fandeæ), where they also originate from the placciitm, but do uot become a
glutinous mass. They possibly aid in the fertilization of the ovules.