n r
i
t- !8 i r
24 FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND.
A midcUe-sized sRrab, with erect branches, easüy recognized from its congeners by the thick woolly covering on
the underside of the leaves, on the branches, petioles, peduncles, and pedicels, calyx and fruit. Leaves 2-3 inches long,
generally narrow-obovate, blunt, coriaeeous. Bracters broadly ovate, cibated, imbricate. Inflorescence very variable,
always terminal, sometimes of a solitary flower, generaUy of several on pedicels J -1 inch long, often having these
collected iu an umbel on a common peduncle. Flowers rather large, deep purple. Fruit nery variable in size, from
a small hazel to a large Spanish nut, 3-4-valved; valves very woody.
8. Pittosporum umbellatmn, Banks et Sol.; arboreum, glaberrimum, foliis alternis verticillatisve
coriaceis obovato-oblongis obtusis in petiolum longum angustatis, bracteis late obovatis glabratis, pedicellis
pilosis subumbellatis terminalibus sessilibus v. in pedunculum dispositis, sepalis ovato-lanceolatis acumi-
iiatis sericeo-pilosis, petalis Hneari-oblougis obtusis, capsulis glabratis granulatis orbiculatis 4-lobis
2-valvis, valvis ad suturam incrassatis tumido-büobis lignosis. Gcertner, v. 1. p . 286. t, 59. DC. Prodr.
V. 1. p . 847. A. Cunn. Prodr.
Hab. Northern Island; east coast, Banks and Solander, etc. Bay of Islands, Cunningham, Colenso,
etc. (Cultivated in England.)
A smaU tree, 20-25 feet high. Leaves coriaceous, bright green, quite smooth, 2-3 inches long, obovate,
tapered into a slender petiole, i inch long. Flowers variable in size, terminal, rather large, dull red, umbeUate or
suboorymbose; the peduncles and pedicels covered with yellow hairs. Bracts numerous, imbricating, forming buds
1 inch long, rich brown, obovate-spathulate, slightly pubescent, hardly ciliated. Sepals hairy, half as long as the
petals, which are linear-oblong, i inch long. Fruit the size of a small hazel-nut, rounded, four-lobed, two-valved ;
valves with a much-thickened rim, bilocular, woody and granulated on the surface, which is smooth; seeds rather
small.
9. Pittosporum/asCTCTífffiíüm, Hook. fil.; frutex ramosus, glaberrimus, foliis obovato-oblougis lanceo-
latisve in petiolum mediocrem angustatis acutis planis super líete viridibus subter pallidis, floribus axillis
supremis fasciculatis terminalibus, pedicellis petiolo brevioribus sepalisque lauceolatis cano-tomentosis,
petalis lineari-oblongis purpuréis.
H a b . Northern Island, Lake Taupo, Colenso.
I advance this species with much hesitation. Mr. Colenso sends it ticketed I . viride, MSS., believing it to
be the same as the plant for which I have substituted the name P. Colensoi (the leaves not being peculiarly green,
and the flowers pmple); but adds, that the specimens were not procured by himself. The P. Colensoi appears,
from Mr. Colenso’s own specimens, as from Dr. Lyall’s and Dieffenbaoh’s, to be a single axillary-flowered species,
like P. undulatum; whereas this has fascicles of many flowers in the axils of the upper leaves only, and terminal
umbels besides. The leaves are similar to those of P. Colensoi, but the calyx and pedicels are thickly covered with
velvety down and hairs.
10. Pittosporumpimeleoides, E. Cunn.; frutex gracilis, foliis junioribus ramulisque pubescenti-pilosis
subverticiHatis, foliis (parvis) elliptico- v. lineari-oblongis v. anguste linearibus brevissime petiolatis acutis
acuminatisve glaberrimis, pedunculis subumbellatis terminalibus, pedicellis pilosis fl. ¿ gracillimis ? brevioribus
robustis, sepalis petaHsque fere flliformibus apice subulatis, capsulis ovato-cordatis rostratis compressis
semibivalvibus, seminibus paucis atris.
Yar. a ; foHis lineari-oblongis acutis patentibus. P. cornifolium f t A. Cunn. Prodr.
Var. /3; foliis patulis lineari-lanceolatis linearibusve acuminatis. P. pimeleoides, A. Cunn. Prodr.
Var. 7 . reflexum ; foliis anguste linearibus acuminatis squarroso-patentibus reflexisve. P . reflexum et
P. radicans, A. Cunn. Prodr.
H a b . Northern Island. Bay of Islands, Cunningham, Colenso, etc.
A small shrub, 3-6 feet high, common on fern-hills at the Bay of Islands, very variable in foliage, but always
easily recognized by its small size and very curious fruit. Mr. Cunningham confounded one state (witli oblong
leaves) with his P. cornifolinm, and of two other varieties made species in liis ‘ Prodromus,’ as quoted. Leaves
seldom more than an inch long, varying from 1 inch to 4 line in breadth, the young ones and branchlets pilose,
acute in the broader states, and drawn out into a subulate point in the narrower, patent or reflexed. Pedicels at the
ends of the branches, variable in length, 4-1 inch long, slender. Sepals and petals very slender, the latter three
times as long as the former, yellow-red. Capsules on short hairy pedicels, ovate, snbcordate, beaked, very unlike
those of any other speeies, 4 inch long, coriaceous, hardly woody, two-valved; valves generally cohering on one side,
so that the capsule bm-sts like a follicle laterally; seeds few aud large.
N at. O r d . VII. CARYOPHyLLE.E, Juss.
Gen. I. STELLARIA, Linn.
Sépala 5. Petala 5, bifida, rarius 0. Stamina 10, abortu 3-8. Styli 3. Capsula 1-locularis, ad
medium 6-valvis, oligo- v. polysperma.
Slender herbs or weeds, generally growing in grassy and often in cultivated places, with star-like greenish
or white axillary flowers. Sepals five, lanceolate. Petals as many (or wanting), always bifid. Stamens three to
ten, united at the very base into a perigynous ring. Styles three. Capsule splitting to the middle into six membranous
valves.—The genus is found in all latitudes; and many of the species are so very similar, and vary
so much, as to be diflicuU of discrimination wherever they are found. A European one, -S', media, is now apparently
wild over both islands, and even in Lord Auckland’s Group, where, however, I only saw it on the tomb of
a French sailor, which it covered, the seed having no doubt been imported. Being neither in Forster’s, Banks’,
Menzies’, or other early herbaria, I shall only introduce it in a supplementary catalogue of introduced plants.
(Name from stella, a star; the corolla resembling a star with five points.)
1. Stellaria Banks et Sol.; repens, glaberrima, laxe cespitosa, ramis prostratis, foliis
petiolatis orbiculatis mucronatis, petiolis rarissime pilosis lamina brevioribus v. ®quilongis, pedunculis
axillaribus folio brevioribus 1-3-floris medio bracteolatis, floribus parvis, sepalis 5 lanceolato-subulatis
v. oblongis acuminatis, petalis 0 v. 5 sepalis brevioribus bipartitis, staminibus 5-10, capsula ad medium
6-valvi, seminibus paucis (8), testa pallide brunnea profunde impresso-punctata. Banks et Sol. Ic. et MSS.
in Mus. Brit.
H a b . Northern Island, Banks and Solaiider, Colenso, etc. Middle Island, Baoul, Lyall.
A slender, pale green, flaccid, creeping weed. Stems 4-6 inches long, quite smooth, as is the whole plant,
except occasionally the petioles, which have a few scattered hairs. Leaves nearly orbicular, rarely cordate at the
base, pointed, 3-6 lines long, longer than the petioles. Peduncles axillary, shorter than the leaves, one- to two-
flowered, with two small membranous bractese about the middle. Mowers very small, f line across. Sepals green,
margined with white, sharp. Petals when present shorter than the sepals, white, split to the base, and hence
appearing as ten. Stamens variable in number. Capsule nearly as long as the sepals. Seeds few and large, deeply
pitted on the surface.—Nearly allied to the S. flaccida of Tasmania, but differing in size, and in the form of the
leaves. Tlie smaU smooth flowers, stem, and leaves, distinguish it from -S^. media.
3. Stellaria elatinoides, Hook, fij.; pusiUa, cespitosa, glaberrima, caulibus asceudentibus suberectisve
basi repentibus tenellis crassiusculisve, foliis (parvis 1-3 lin. longis) oblongis linearibusve subacutis in
petiolum brevem angustatis, floribus pro planta magnis solitariis axillaribus v. pedúnculo sepalis ®quilongo
impositis, sepalis ovatis lauceolatisve subulato-acuminatis, petalis 0, staminibus 6- 10, capsula globosa
penantbio ®quilonga ad medium 6-valvi, seminibus 2-6 magnis grosse tuberculatis.
H a b . Northern Island; grassy banks on the east coast; at Hawkes’ Bay, Lake Rotoa-tara, etc., Colenso.
I