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Calyx bracteis 4 pluribiisve. Corolla iufundibuliformis ; limbo patente, longitudina liter dense barbato.
Ovanum 5-Ioculare. Bacca 5-pyreiia.
The only New Zealand species is also found in the mountains of Tasmania. I t forms a glabrous, much branched,
little shrubby plant, 2-3 inches liigh, growing amongst moss, etc., in a tufted manner. Leaves 1-2 lines long,
coriaceous, concave, elliptical, blunt, three- to five-nerved, with obscurely ciliate cartilaginous margins.
Floicers large for the size of tiie 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 nivraffive, and xo^Spos, a seed.)
1. Penta cb o n d ra p tmiila , B r .; fruticulus glaberrimus, ramosus, depressus, foliis imbricatis coriaceis
nitidis ellipticis eUiptico-ovatisve obtusis concavis marginibus cartilagineis subciliatis 3 -5 -n erv iis, calycibus
4-bracteatis. Br. Prodr. J . Cunn. Prodr. Epacris pumila, Forst. Prodr.
H a b . Common on tb e mountains of all tb e Islands, Forster, etc.
Gen. IV . E PA C R IS , Smith.
multibracteatus. CbroDiZ tubulosa ; limbo imberbi. Stamina ep ip etala; antheris supra medium
Squamulæ 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 species
are inconspicuous as regards flowers.—Rigid, erect, usually smooth, heatli-like shrubs, with axillary flowers. Pedicels
covered witb numerous coriaceous bracts scarcely distinguishable from tbe calyx. Corolla tubular; 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
trom €irt, upon, and a<pis, a mountain; in allusion to the native place of some of the species.)
1. Y\^acns paucijlora, A. Rich. ; fruticulus erectus, stric tus, ramis foliosis virgatis, foliis erectis patulisve
subimbricatis rhombeo-ovatis subacutis integerrimis obscure venosis concavis crassis, floribus versus apices
ramulorum plurimis axillaribus solitariis, pedunculis multibra ctea tis, corollæ tubo calycc vix æquilongo,
staminibus inclusis. A. B ich . Flora. A . Cunn. Frodr. BC . Frodr.
H a b . N o rth e rn Is la n d ; abu n d an t on dry bills. B a n k s and Solander, etc.
A twigg}’ slender shrub, a foot or so high, simple or branclied in a fasciculate manner, perfectly glabrous
everywhere. Leaves small, hardly i 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 margins and
faint veins. Flowers numerous towards the ends of the branches, solitary in the axils of leaves tbat are sometimes
larger than the rest. Peduncles sbort, stiff, clothed with very numerous ovate, acute, imbricating bracteolæ.
Flowers small, white, 14 line long, sunk in the ovate sharp calyx-lobes. Fm it a small five-celled, many-seeded
capsule.—A very common plant, rather variable in habit, but constant in its main characters.
2. Epacris alpina, Hook. fil. ; fruticulus ramosus, ramis erectis cicatricatis, foliis patulis la te ellipticis
ovatisve obtusis glaberrimis crassis coriaceis concavis aveniis, floribus solitariis axillaribus, pedicellis brevibus
paucibracteatis, bracteis late ovatis obtusis.
H .ab. N o rth e rn Is la n d ; in mountainous situations. Base of Tongariro, B idw ill, Colenso.
Very similar to F,. 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. E p a c ris ? racemosa, Hook, fib ; ramis puberulis virgatis, foliis subverticillatis p a ten tib u s obovato-
oblongis subacutis planis enerviis coriaccis reticulatim venosis, floribus racemosis breve pedicellatis 2-brac-
te a tis ? , racemo puberulo, bracteis caducis?, calycis lobis oblongis obtusis stria tis margine la te scariosis
ciliatis, corolla campanulata limbo p aten te, filamentis in te r lobos insertis, ovario 5-loculari, ovulis plurimis
columnæ ascendenti affixis.— An novum g en u s?
H a b . G re a t Barrier Islan d , Capt. B . Bough (communicated by B r . 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 contaiuing
Epacris itself. I t differs from the last-named genus in the few bracteolæ, and remarkably in habit, but
agi-ees with it in the five-celled 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. Flowers
drooping, white, nearly 4 inch broad, on short pedicels 1 line long. 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, La,h.
Calyx 5-pbyllus, bracteatus. Corolla tubuloso-infundibuliformis ; loborum apicibus incurvis, imberbi-
bus. Stamina 5 (speciebus Novæ Zelandiæ coroUæ adnata). Squamæ hypogynæ 5. Capsula 5-locularis.
Semina columnæ centrali pendulæ ad n a ta.— Eruticesi?. arbores, ramis cicatricatis annulatis. Eolia òasi va-
g in a n tia , gramínea v. su lu la ta . Llores racemosi, pa n icu la ti, v. spicati.
Shi-ubs or large trees, confined to New Caledonia, Australia, and the New Zealand Islands, and abounding in the
latter countrv, very scarce in the others. Leaves usually very narrow, grassy, sheathing, when falling away leaving
ringed scars on the branches. Inflorescence 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 in the New Zealand species, hypogynous in the Australian and New Caledonian.
Ovary five-cellcd, with five glands at its base. Ovules many, attached to a column whicli hangs down in
each cell.—This fine genus forms a prominent feature in the New Zealand Elora, the species being very numerous,
abundant in individuals, and occiuTing from the sea-coast to the mountain-tops, and both on the wet and dry
coasts. Some of them are very difficult to distinguish specifically, others are well-marked. (Name from dpoKcov,
a dragon, and (pvWov, a leaf; from the analogy between this plant and Dracæna, to which Labillardiere at one time
thought it allied.)
§ a. Flowers panicled. Bracts deciduous. Calyx much shorter than the tube o f the corolla. (D. Menziesii has
sometimes racemes.)
1. Dracophyllum latifolium, A. Cunu. ; arboreum, foliis 14-pedalibus concavis longissime lanceolato-
subulatis subflexuosis (pro genere latis) serrulatis in vaginam glaberrimam gradatim dilatatis, panicnla effusa
Ilutante pilosa demum glabrata, floribus parvis, foliolis calycinis pubescentibus late ovatis, capsulis parvis.
A . Cunn. Frodr. BC . Frodr. F l. An ta rc t. Epacris longifolia, B a n k s et Sol. M S S . et Ic.
H ab . N o rth e rn Is la n d ; commou in woods, B a n k s a n d Solander, etc.