78 FLORA ANTARCTICA. [Auckland and 



gamous flowers, the texture of the leaflets of the perianth and their being often united above the base, the subulate 

 and generally terete, not linear or compressed filaments, the short anthers and different nature of the pollen, which 

 is minutely granular and furrowed on one side, and the constantly nearly sessile and three-lobed stigma. 



With Asphodeleee, Astelia has many points in common : though, as stated above, the internal structure of 

 the seed is more manifestly that of Juncece, it is not opposed to the description of that organ in Asphodeleee, and 

 the brittle black shining testa is almost typical of that order. The stamens are the same, in some Astelia being 

 much elongated and bearing versatile anthers ; and the form of the pollen likewise, though I have always ob- 

 served it to be granulated. The thickened and subincurved apices of the leaflets of the perianth are analogous 

 to the cucullate tips of these organs in Drimia and Albuca. The form of the perianth is variable in the New 

 Zealand species, nor is its texture always peculiarly semi-glumaceous, as in one species the lacinise, which are 

 linear, are also thin, membranous and white ; in another it expands at the base into a broad, flattened or cup- 

 shaped disc with six equal lobes ; in a third the base is subcampanulate, with erect linear lacinke, subpeta- 

 loid in texture ; and in a fourth species it completely surrounds the ripe berries, which are very large. Nor is 

 the berry itself very constant in internal structure, as in Dianella, Lam., amongst Asphodelea, it is baccate, and as 

 in Allium, L., it varies in the number of cells from one to three. In one of the above New Zealand species it 

 is, as far as I can judge from dried specimens, one-celled, with many seeds pendulous from the summit, attached 

 by short funiculi to what probably was a fleshy pendent column, but of which I see only the membranous re- 

 mains ; if any dissepiments existed they must have been very imperfect. Another species has the berry con- 

 stantly three-celled, with several seeds pendulous from the upper inner angle of the cell ; and in a third the fruit 

 is membranous and subcapsular with three to six cells, each containing two or more pendulous seeds, which are 

 convex at the back and with the sides much compressed like those of many Asphodelea. To Melanthacea the genus 

 is allied inhabit, in the polygamous flowers, in the perianth sometimes (exactly similar to that of Wurmbia, Thunb.) 

 forming a tube round the fruit, in the baccate fruit, and in the form and surface of the pollen, which in some Melan- 

 thacete is minutely granular : from this order however they essentially differ, in the aestivation of the perianth not 

 being induplicate, in the anthers being at no period extrorse, in the single style, sessile, lobed stigma, and in the 

 crustaceous integument of the seed. Whilst alluding to this order I may mention another plant whose affinity has 

 been considered dubious, the Campynema linearis, Lab. (Flor. Nov. Holl. vol. i. p. 93. t. 121). This I have 

 lately examined, and find it to be, as Mr. Brown rightly conjectured (Prodr. p. 290), truly Melanthaceous, with 

 the tube of the perianth united to the ovarium. The fruits I have only seen in an immature state ; but in them 

 the adhesion of the perianth to the capsule is evident, and in a forwarder state the line of separation would 

 doubtless be more clear. The plant is dioecious or probaoly polygamous, the anthers extrorse and caducous, 

 the filaments after their falling away becoming recurved and projecting between the segments of the perianth ; 

 the pollen is yellow and granulate. The immature seeds are very numerous, imbricated in two series in each 

 cell, and are attached to the middle of the dissepiments. 



I have not ventured to subdivide the genus Astelia, as I doubt if characters of sufficient importance will be 

 found to render it necessary, especially until good specimens in all states of the New Zealand species shall have 

 been examined. The A. pumila, Br., is the most abnormal species in habit and in the subcapsular fruit; it is 

 allied to the Tasmanian A. alpina, Br. in the form of that organ and shape of the leaves, and, on the other hand, 

 to A. linearis in the short two-flowered scape. The A. alpina again, having a racemose inflorescence, con- 

 nects these with the New Zealand species, in one of which the ovarium is one-celled. There are probably two 

 species in the Sandwich group, one of which has two seeds in each of the cells of the berry and the seed-coat is 

 very thick and osseous. 



The A. linearis is the most inconspicuous of any of the species, owing to the grassy appearance of the 

 leaves and its small size. Both the A. pumila and A. alpina are very striking plants ; the former constituting 

 singular hard flat green beds on the bogs, often several yards across ; while the latter, with its beautifully 

 silky and copious foliage, is a great ornament to the top of Mount Wellington and other mountains of Tasmania. 



