III.— BOTANY. 



Art. XXXV. — A Description of some Neiuly-discovered Indi- 

 genous Plants, being a Further Contribution toioards the 

 making hnoivn the Botany of Neiv Zealand. 



By W. CoLENso, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c. 



[Read before the Haioke's Bay Philosophical Institute, 12th October, 

 ^ 1891.] 



Class I. DICOTYLEDONS. 

 Order XXVIII. Myrtace^. 

 Genus 2.=^= Metrosideros, Br. 



1. M. tcnuifoUum, sp. nov. 



Plant diffusely creeping, very slender in all its parts, much 

 branched, wholly glabrous; branches very long, flexuous, 

 fihform, tetragonal, their angles slightly winged; bark 

 bright-red, shining; rooting scattered, rootlets long wiry. 

 Leaves distant, opposite, roundish and broadly elliptic, mem- 

 branous, sub ^in. long, margins entire, flat, patent, pale- 

 green above, greenish-white below, penninerved without an 

 intramarginal hue, glandular red-dotted on both surfaces; 

 petioles very short. Flowers' and fruit not seen. 



Hab. Steep cliffy sides of streamlets and dry gullies, forests 

 south of Dannevirke, County of Waipawa ; 1889-91 : W. G. 



Obs. I. This plant grows very thickly in its peculiar 

 habitats ; adhering closely yet loosely to the dry soil, or 

 rocks, which it overruns as well as itself, so that frequently 

 no other plant is found growing among it ; and when a speci- 

 men is sought to be gathered a large portion of the j)lant 

 generally comes away with it. It looks strikingly pretty, 

 from its numerous small and regular leaves and their clean 

 and healthy appearance. I have frequently met with it 

 during the last three years in those localities, and at various 



* The numbers attached to the orders and genera in this and the 

 following paper (Three New Ferns) are those of them in the " Handbook 

 of the New Zealand Flora." 



