Stems 1-2 feet long, but always depending on the depth of water, sparingly branched. Leaves aD whorled in
fours; lower 1-2 inches long, capillaceo-multifid; upper crowded, broadly Unear-oblong or narrow linear, blunt,
sharply seiiate, or pimiatifid. Flowers axillary. Stamens eight.—This looks entirely the same as a common Tasmanian
aud South American species, and nearly approaches to M. verticillatum of England. The fruit I have only seen
on South American specimens, and have described as of four short, oblong, smooth carpels, convex on the back.
2. Myriophylium vancefolium, Hook, fil.; foliis 5-7-natira verticillatis inferioribus capillaceo-multi-
tidis intermediis pinuatifidis superioribus anguste liiieai-ibus obtusis, floribus axillaribus 8-andris dioicis ?
Hook.Jil. Ic. Plant, t. 289.
Yar. ¡3; foliis supremis magnis pinnatifidis segmentis capillaceis, carpellis turgidis hie illic tuberculatis.
An sp. diversa? An M. Indicum, Roxb. ?
H ab. Northern and Middle Islands; iu bogs and running water, frequent, Colenso, etc. Akaroa,
Uaoul.
s in shallow water a few inches, in deep water several feet long. Leaves five to seven in a whorl ; the lower
capillaceo-multifid; intermediate smaller, pinnatifid; upper still smaller, narrow linear, blunt, inch long, entire.
Flowers on the summit of the upper branches. Fruit unknown, except in var. /3, which may be another species : there
of four large, tubercled, short, broadly oblong carpels. The leaves of that variety are much larger, 1 - l i inch long,
all deeply pinnatifid, with capillary segments.—Mr. Colenso sends the male flowers of M. variafolium with var. /3,
whence I presume them to belong to one species; the latter closely resembles the M. Lndicum of India, but the,
fruit is less tubercled; also the M. heterophyllum of North America, andilf. verticillatum of Europe, but the leaves
of the flowering specimens are always longer than the flowers. It is a very common Tasmanian plant.
Gen. I I I . CALLITRICHE, L.
Flores unisexuales. Masc. Stamen solitarium, bracteis (petalis ?) 2 linearibus suflultum ; filamento
elongato; anthera 2-loculari; loculis rimis lateralibus demum coufluentibus debiscentibus. F l. f oe m .
Calyx obsoletus. Petala 0. Ovarium tetragonum, é-loculare. Stigmata 2, filiformia. Fructus 4-coccus ;
coccis compressis, indehiscentibus, 1-locularibus. Semen solitarium, pendulum ; embryone axi albuminis
carnosi, recto; radicula tereti, hilo próxima.
Very delicate green, smooth, water herbs, partially floating, with opposite, entire leaves, often approximate and
apparently whorled at the end of the branches, which are spread out on the top of the water, and very minute,
solitary, sessile, axillary, imperfect, uni- or bi-sexual ? flowers. Male flower : as tamen with two membranous bracts
at the base; filament slender ; anther two-celled, bursting inwards longitudinally, and, from the valves becoming
confluent and rolling up, appearing to have opened transversely. Female : four flat carpels, loosely cohering in the
form of a cross, and enveloped with the quite inconspicuous tube of the calyx, which has no apparent limb. Stigmas
two, long, filiform. Fruit of four, hard, flattened carpels, each one-celled, with one pendulous albuminous seed. Embryo
terete, axile, with two small cotyledons, and radicle pointing to the hilum.—A genus of few species, and those
variable in characters, like most water-plants ; found all over the temperate world, the New Zealand kind being particularly
widely diffused. (Name îromKa\os, beautiful, and hair, from the long, floating, slender stems,)
1. Callitriche verna, L. Fl. Antaret. v. l.p. 11, et v. %.p. 272.
Var./3; foliis rotundatis petiolatis, floribus hermaphroditis v. $ and $ collateralibus, carpeUis dorso
alatis. C. tenella, Banks et Sol. MSS.
H ab. Abundant in deep, still, and running water; also in pools, and on wet ground. Banks and
Solander, etc.
An extremely variable plant. Stems creeping on the ground, or erect in water, branched, 2-10 inches, and even
in deep water a foot long. Leaves variable in shape according to the situation, shorter and broader in terrestrial
forms, long and linear in submerged parts, generally more or less spathulate, i - 1 inch long, very membranous, quite
entire, narrowed into a petiole, three-nerved. The plant 1 have called var. j3 is quite similar, but the leaves are shorter
and rounder, more distinctly petiolate; the female flower is seated on a short pedicel, which also bears a solitary stamen.
If this indicates a bisexual flower, it follows tbat the ovary is really superior, and is not enveloped like Mynophyllum
in the tube of the calyx; but I rather regard this variety as bearing in the axil of the leaf two flowers, a female, and
a male consisting of a single stamem
Gen. IV. GUNNERA, L.
Flores uni-bi-sexuales, bracteolati. Calycis tubus ovario adhærens, tereti v. angulato ; limbo 2-3-
lobo. Petala 2, v. 0, calycis lobis alterna, cóncava, decidua. Stamina 2, petalis opposita ; antheris 2-locularibus,
rimis lateralibus debiscentibus. Ovarium 1-loculare, 1-ovulatum; stylis 2, elongatis, simplicibus,
staminibus oppositis. Fructus di-upaceus, indeliiscens ; endocarpio osseo. Semen solitarium, pendulum,
loculum implens ; testa membranácea ; albumine dense carnoso, oleoso ; embryone mínimo, cordato, hilo
próxima ; radicula brevi, obtusa, supera.
Herbaceous, monoecious and dioecious, or hermaphrodite plants, with an underground rhizoma or with creeping
scions, alternate, petiolate radical leaves, sometimes with erect, leafy scapes, and spiked or racemose, uni-bi-sexual,
small, green, bracteated flowers. Calyx tube adherent with the ovarium ; limb two- to three-toothed or lobed.
Petals two or absent, alternating with tbe calyx teeth, deciduous. Stamens two, opposite the petals. Anthers innate,
two-celled, bursting laterally. Ovary one-celled, with one pendulous ovule, and two long, simple, often recurved
styles opposite the stamens. Fruit a small (usually red) drupe, with one pendulous albuminous seed filling the
cavity ; testa membranous ; albumen dense, fleshy ; embryo very minute, broadly heart-shaped, two-lobed, placed at
tbe upper end of the seed; radicle next the hilum*.—This is almost wholly a southern genus, ranging from Java iu
the Old World, and Peru in the New, to the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Tahiti.
The acid leaves of a great South American species are used as food, and taste like rhubarb. (Named in honour of
John Ernest Gunner, a learned Swedish bishop and botanist.)
1. Gunnera monoica, Raoul; parce pilosa v. glabrata, caule repente v. stolonifero, foliis cordato- v.
reniformi-rotundatis obscure 4-lobis inæqualiter crenato-dentatis, racemis folio subæquilongis parce ramosis,
floribus pauiculatis racemosisve inferioribus ? , calycis lobis acuminatis, bracteobs petabsque cibato-
laceris, filamentis elongatis, drupis obconicis carnosis. liaoul, Choix de Plantes, v. 15. t. 9. G. prorepens,
Fl. Antaret. v. 2.p . 274 [in not.).
H ab. Northern and Middle Islands ; common in wet places. Bay of Islands, Cunningham, etc.; Akaroa,
Raoul; Milford Sound, Lyall.
A small creeping herb, forming tufts on wet banks, etc., with small red berries, aud very inconspicuous
green flowers. Zeaüís inch across, renifonn, orbicular, or cordate, deeply crenate and obscurely tbree-lobed;
both surfaces, especially the veins underneath, petioles (1- I i iucli), and suckers covered with scattered white
hairs. Panicles Hnear, erect, sparingly branched, with scattered, nearly sessile flowers. Lower flowers female (often
apetalous ?) ; upper male or liermaphrodite. Bracteoles and linear-spathulate concave petals deeply laciniate.
Calyx-lobes erect, with a long point. Filaments long; anthers with a small claw at the apex. -i-inch
long, obcuneate, ficshy.—The trivial name monoica is not happy, most species of the genus being veiy frequently
* In the ‘Flora Antarctica,’ vol. ii. p. 273, I have erroneously described the embryo as erect, and as at the
opposite end of the seed. How the error occurred I know not, as I have long been aware of its position being
always as above described.