40 ELOBA OE NEW ZEALAND.
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\_Geraniacea.
to a. Canliniamm of North America, with which it entirely agrees, except that the seeds are more deeply punctate;
this trifling character alone is said to distinguish G. Caroliniamm from the European G. dissecttm. In
Europe, O. dmectum. has small flowers, and petals as short as the sepals ; this is a variable character in the New
Zealand plant, and also in the North American. The European has also an annual root, according to descriptions ;
but as various annuals and biennials of Europe become perennials in the more uniform ohmates of New Zealand
and Tasmania, much stress cannot be laid upon that point. My G. Tatagonicum. (El. Antaret. vol. ii. p. 252) is
probably the same plant, and equaUy a variety of G. Canlinimmm, which is found throughout Mexico and Peru.
2. Geranium molle, L. ; laxe patentim pilosum, caulibus laxis procumbentibus diffusis, fobis orbiculatis
V. reniformibus 5-7-lobatis, lobis incisis obtusis, pedunculis 2-floris, petabs emarginatis calyce æquilongis
V. longioribus, capsubs transverse rugosis, seminibus lævibas. Engl. Bot. (.778.
H ab. North ern and Middle Islands, Colenso and Bgall.
Usually a smaller and weaker-stemmed plant than the former, with more rounded, less deeply cut. and softly
pilose leaves. Mowers usually paler. Its best characters are the wrinkled capsule and smooth seeds. The roots
appear annual.—Neither Mr. Colenso nor Dr. Lyall allude to this common European plant as having been introduced.
I bave it from Tasmania also, collected by Mr. Gunn, who suspects that it is not wild in that country.
S. Geraniumpotentilloides, Herit.; caule decumbente ramoso superne petiobs pedunculisque appresse
rarius patentim retrorsum pilosis canisque, fobis 5-7-lobatis partitisve, segmentis cuneatis 3-fidis acutis, pe-
dunoubs unifloris 2-bracteolatis, petabs calyce æquüongis v. longioribus pabidis, capsubs pai-ce pilosis lævibus
obscure carinatis, seminibus minute punctulatis. BC. Prodr. v. l . p . 369. G. pallidiflorum. Banks et Sol.
MSS. et Ic. G. retrorsum, A. Gunn. Prodr. An BC.?
Var. ;S. mieropkgllum ; glabratum, acaule v. caubbus abbreviatis, fobis parvis. G. micropbyUum, Fl.
Antaret. v . l . p . %. t .T .
Tar. 7 . detile ; caubbus fibformibus glabratis petiolis pedunculisque superne patentim pilosis, fobis
ad medium lobatis.
H ab. Northern, Middle, and Southern Islands; chiefly in mountainous situations, Banks and
Solander, Colenso, etc. Tar. ;S. Tops of mountains. Tar. 7 . East coast, Colenso; Akaroa, liaoul.
A weak straggUng plant, much smaller in all its parts than either of the former, more or less clothed with
silky appressed retrorse hairs, especially at the apex of the peduncles and petioles. Leaves f - l inch broad, more
or less deeply out and lobed. Peduncles single, rarely two-flowered, with two lanceolate scarious bracteæ about the
middle. Mowers very variable in size, always pale, i to nearly 1 inch across. Capsules obscurely nbbed or keeled
down the back, pflose. Seeds minutely dotted.—The var. 3 has sometimes no stems, both leaves and peduncles
arising from a thick root ; it is a mountain plant, origmally found in Lord Auckland’s Group. Tar. 7 is a very
s l e n d e r s t r a g g l i n g form, prohably from shaded places, with patent hairs on the petioles and peduncles; its leaves
are membranous and less deeply cut. This is a common Tasmanian species, and resembles very closely some
Andes plants.
4 . Geranium hrevicaule, Hook.; radice valida multicipite; caulibus abbreviatis pedunculis petiolisque
pilosis pilis longis retrorsum appressis patulisve rarius glabratis, fobis 6-7-partitis lobatisve, lobis cuueatis
trifidis V. incisis, lobulis obtusis v. acutis, peduncubs oppositifoliis validis 1-floris infra ilorem dense
sericeo-barbatis basin versus 2-bracteolatis, calycibns villosis, petabs pabidis, capsubs pilosis lævibus, seminibus
lævibus V. minutissime punctatis. Hooh. in Journal o f Botany, v. 2. p . 252.
H ab. Northern Island; Euahine Mountains, Cole'nso. Middle Island ; Chalky Bay, Lyall.
Root stout, fusiform, woody, giving off many short branches 2-6 inches long, which, as well as the petioles
and peduncles, are clothed with silky, white, retrorse or patent hairs; the latter sometimes evanescent in old plants.
ieaue« as in G. potentilloides, but rather larger. Peduncles shorter, stout, bearded below the flower with silky
patent hairs. Calyx also silky and hairy. Petals white. Fruit with a stout hairy beak. Capsules hairy; seeds
quite smooth and even, or minutely punctulate under a high power.—I retain this species mainly on account of its
perfectly even or scarcely dotted seeds; for in other respects it resembles Q. potentilloides, var. microphyllum, far
too closely in all characters, except greater size and copious silky hairs on the peduncle, etc. Tbe woody root and
short stems are both attributable to its place of growth. It is also a native of the mountains of Tasmania.
Gen. II . PELARGONIUM; Eerit.
Sepala 5, supremo in calcar pedúnculo adnatum producto. Petala 4 -5 ; irregularia v. subregularia.
Filamenta 4 -7 fertilia; reliqua sterilia. Rostra introrsum barbata.
A very large and almost exclusively Cape genus, of which one (and perhaps two) species, also natives of
that country, inhabit Australia and New Zealand. It closely resembles a Geranium in habit and appearance, differing
in tbe irregular flowers, in having a spur which is prolonged from one sepal down the pedicel, and in the
stamens, of which five are reduced to scales or mere teeth. (Name fi’om jreXapyo?, a stork, because of the beaked
carpels.)
1. Pelargonium clandestinum; pilosum v. pubescenS; caule erecto simplici v. ramoso, foliis longe petiolatis
rotundatis profunde cordatis 3 -5-lobis crenato-dentatis, pedunculis elongatis fructiferis erectis v. pa-
tentibuS; bracteoHs ovatis acuminatis, pedicellis sepalis longioribus, sepalis pubescentibus pilisque raris
albidis sublrispidis, calcare brevi v. obliterato, petalis calyce vix longioribus, capsulis pilosis, seminibus minutissime
punctato-striatis. Herit. Geran. hied. A. Cunn. Prodr. P . acugnatum, B u Petit Thouars?
BC. ProÚA'. Geranium amccnum. Banks et Sol. MSS. et Ic.
H ab. Northern and Middle Islands; abundant, especially near the sea. PI. January aud February.
Nat. name, “ Kopata," Middle Island, Lyall.
An erect, herbaceous, more or less pilose. Geranium-like plant, very variable in size, 4 inches to 2 feet high.
Leaves on slender petioles, 2-6 inches long, rounded or ovate, blunt, deeply two-lobed or cordate at the base, three-
to five-lobed, coarsely or finely crenate or dentate. Peduncles axillary, longer than the leaves, from whose axils they
spring, pubescent. Flowers small, ten to twelve together; umbels on short pedicels, surrounded at the base by a
whorl of bracteolm ; pedicels 2-6 lines long, pubescent, and, as well as the unequal ovate acuminate sepals, covered
with scattered short white hairs. Spur short, gibbous, or evanescent. Petals unequal, 14-2 lines long, longer than
the sepals, narrow, spathulate, notched, deep red. Stamens about five fertile, the rest more or less coalescing into a
few white membranous scales. Fruit very hairy, the beak recurved (not twisted), lined along the inner surface
with beautiful long silky hairs. Seeds very minutely dotted.—The natives apply a lotion of this plant bniised for
burns and scalds. This is also a native of Tasmania, where a small state of it is found, apparently passing into the
P. australe. The Tiistan d’Acunha plant referred to this by De Candolle I have never seen; but as 1 have examined
a specimen undistinguishable from the New Zealand one from the Cape of Good Hope (Drege, 7466), there
would appear no reason to doubt their identity. Of the said Cape plant I have but one specimen, not in fruit: it
is quite unlike any other species from that country, and if identical with this, it presents a wonderful fact in
distribution, for except one European, one St. Helena, and one Abyssinian species, this large genus is, I believe,
quite confined to South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The P. australe of Australia and Tasmania has also
a Cape of Good Hope representative, and a perhaps identical congener.