THE JOURNAL 
OF 
THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 
(BOTANY.) 
The Sys matic Position of Hectorella cespitosa, Hook. f. By ALFRED J. 
Ewart, D.Sc., F.L.S., Government Botanist to the State of Victoria. 
(With 1 Text-figure.) 
[Read 1st November, 1906.] 
Tuis interesting little plant from New Zealand was placed by Sir J. D. Hooker 
among the Portulacaces», although he considered it to be allied to no other 
genus (in this Order), and was aware of its strong resemblance in habit to 
Lyallia among the Alsinoidex-Polycarpee group of the СагуорһуПасеғ. 
Mr. Petrie collected a large quantity of this plant in flower and fruit, and 
forwarded the same to the late Baron von Mueller, who apparently was 
unable to subject the material to more than a superficial examination. 
The fruits were unknown to Hooker, although Pax, in Engler's * Pflanzen- 
familien? (11. 1b, р. 58), gives the carpels as containing 4 to 5 ovules, of 
which a fewer number ripen in the fruit. 
The following is a verified and slightly modified description from the MS. 
of the late Baron von Mueller :— 
“ Ripe fruit almost globular or somewhat turbinate, membranous, nearly 
as long as the sepals, and hence slightly shorter than the petals, retaining the 
style and stigmas for some time, bursting by irregular valves at the apex, and 
measuring about 4 of an inch. Ripe seeds 2 to 4, ovate roundish, slightly 
compressed, smooth outside, shining black, about , inch long. Endosperm 
scanty, curved embryo, the ends not meeting, and the cotyledons hardly 
longer than the radicle.” 
LINN. JOURN.—BOTANY, VOL. XXXVIII. B 
