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A middle-sized shrub, with erect branches, easily recognized from its congeners by the thick wooUy covering on
the underside of the leaves, on the branches, petioles, peduncles, and pedicels, calyx and fruit. Leaves 2 -3 inches long,
generally narrow-ohovate, blimt, coriaceous. Braeteee broadly ovate, ciliated, imbricate. Inflorescence very variable,
always terminal, sometimes of a solitary flower, generally of several on pedicels J - 1 inch long, often having these
collected in an umbel on a common peduncle. Flotvers rather large, deep purple. Fruit very variable in size, from
a small hazel to a large Spanish nut, 2-4-valved; valves very woody.
8. Pitto sp o ram umhellatum, Banks e t S o l.; arboreum, glaberrimum, foliis altem is verticillatisve
coriaceis obovato-oblongis obtusis in petiolum longum angustatis, bracteis la te obovatis glabratis, pedicellis
pilosis subumbellatis termina libus sessilibus v. in pedunculum dispositis, sepalis ovato-lanceolatis acuminatis
sericeo-pilosis, petalis lineari-oblongis obtusis, capsulis glabratis granulatis orbiculatis 4-lobis
2-valvis, valvis ad sutu ram incrassatis tumido-bilobis liguosis. Gartner, v. 1. p . 286. t. 5 9 . DC. Prodr.
V. 1 . p . 3 47. A . Cunn. Prodr.
H ab. N o rth e rn Islan d ; east coast. B a n k s a n d Solander, etc. Bay of Islan d s, Cunningham, Colenso,
etc. (Cultivated in England.)
A small tree. 20-25 feet high. Leaves coriaceous, bright green, quite smooth, 2 -3 inches long, obovate,
tapered into a slender petiole, ^ inch long. Flowers variable in size, terminal, rather large, dull red, umbellate or
suhcorymbose ; 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. P itto sp o rum /a síia ífa ÍK )» , Ho o k , fil.; frutex ramosus, glaberrimus, foliis obovato-oblongis lanceo-
latisve in petiolum mediocrem angustatis acutis planis super læte viridibus su b ter paUidis, floribus axillis
supremis fasciculatis terminalibus, pedicellis petiolo brevioribus sepalisque lanceolatis cano-tomentosis,
petalis lineari-oblongis purpuréis.
H ab. N o rth e rn Islan d , L a k e Taupo, Colenso.
I advance this species with much hesitation. Mr. Colenso sends it ticketed P . viride, MSB., 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 pm-ple) ; 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 Dieffenhach’s, to be a single axiUary-fiowered species,
like P . utdulatum; 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. P itto sp o ram pimeleoides, E . Cunn. ; frutex gracilis, foliis Junioribus ramulisque pubescenti-pilosis
subverticUlatis, foliis (parvis) elliptico- v. lineari-oblongis v. anguste linearibus brevissime petiolatis acutis
acuminatisve glaberrimis, pedunculis subumbellatis terminalibus, pedicellis pilosis fl. gracillimis Î brevioribus
robustis, sepalis petalisque fere filiformibus apice subulatis, capsulis ovato-cordatis rostratis compressis
semibivalvibus, seminibus paucis atris.
Var. a ; folds lineari-oblongis acutis patentibus. P . cornifolium /3, 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 ab. N o rth e rn Islan d . Bay of Islan d s, Cunningham, Colenso, etc.
A small shrub. 3-5 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 (with oblong
leaves) m th his P. cornifolium, and of two other varieties made species in his ‘ Prodromus/ as quoted. Leaves
seldom more than an inch long, varying from 1 inch to j line in breadth, tbe 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, i ~ l inch long, slender. Sepals and petals very slender, the la tter three
times as long as the former, yellow-red. Capsules on short hairy pedicels, ovate, subcordate, beaked, very unlike
those of any other species, ^ inch long, coriaceous, hardly woody, two-valved; valves generally cohering on one side,
so that the capsule bursts like a follicle laterally; seeds few and large.
N a t . O r d . VII. CARYOPHYLLEÆ, Juss.
Gen. I . S T E L LA E IA , L in n .
1 0 , ab o rtu 3 - 8 ! 5. Pe ta la 5, bifida, ra riu s 0. . l i Z . 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 aU latitudes ; and many of the species are so very similar, and vary
so much, as to be difficult of discrimination wherever they are found. A European one, S. media, is now apparently
wild over both islands, and even iu Lord Auckland’s Group, where, however, I only saw it on the tomb of
a French sailor, which it covered, the seed haring no doubt been imported. Being neither in Forster’s, Banks’,
Menzies’, or other eaily herbaria, I shall only introduce it iu a supplementary catalogue of introduced plants.
(Name from stella, a star ; the corolla resembling a star with five points.)
1. Stellaria paiviflora, Banks e t S o l.; repens, glaberrima, laxe cæspitosa, ramis p rostratis, foliis
petiolatis orbiculatis mucronatis, petiolis rarissime pilosis lamina brevioribus v. æquilongis, pedunculis
axillaribus fobo brevioribus 1 - 2-fioris medio bracteolatis, fioribus parvis, sepalis 5 lanceolato-subulatis
v. oblongis acuminatis, petalis 0 v. 5 sepalis brevioribus b ip a rtitis, staminibus 5 -1 0 , capsula ad medium
6-valvi, seminibus paucis (8), te sta paliide b ru n n e a profunde impresso-punctata. B a n k s et Sol. Ic. et M S S .
in Mus. B r it.
H ab. N o rth e rn Island, B a n k s a n d Solander, Colenso, etc. Middle Is lan d , Eaoul, L ya ll.
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 axillaiy, shorter than the leaves, one- to two-
flowered, with two small membranous bracteæ about the middle. Mowers very small, 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 sm-face.—Neaily allied to the S. flaccida of Tasmania, but differing in size, and in tbe form of the
leaves. Tlie small smooth flowers, stem, aud leaves, distinguish it from S. media.
2. Stellaria elatinoides. Hook, fil.; pusilla, cæspitosa, glaberrima, caubbus ascendentibus suberectisve
basi repentibus tenelbs crassiuscubsve, folus (parvis 1 -2 b n . longis) oblongis bnea ribusve subacutis in
petiolum brevem angusta tis, floribus pro p lan ta magnis sobtariis axillaribus v. pedúnculo sepabs æquilongo
impositis, sepalis ovatis lauceolatisve subulato-acuminatis, p etabs 0, staminibus 6- 10, capsida globosa
perianthio æquilonga ad medium 6-valvi, seminibus 2-6 magnis grosse tu b e rcu latis.
H ab. N o rth e rn Is lan d ; grassy banks on th e east coast ; a t Hawkes’ Bay, Lak e E o to a-tara , etc., Colenso.