CoLENSO. — On New Indigenous Plants. 393 



4. V, hirsuta, sp. nov. 



Plant annual, small, herbaceous, weak, pale-green, very- 

 hairy ; rootlets numerous, exceedingly slender, long, hair-like ; 

 stem simple, erect, 2in.-3in. (rarely 4in.-5in.) high, sometimes 

 branched from near base ; branches ascending, slender, reddish- 

 brown ; hairs white, jointed, irregularly long and patent on 

 stems, their bases broad and shining on leaves. Leaves 

 petiolate, few, very thin, broadly ovate, 3-4 lines long, margins 

 cut-serrate, tip subacute, base subtruncate, 5-nerved ; petioles 

 short. Flowers 10-12, axillary in upper part of stem and 

 branches, pretty close together ; peduncles short about 1 line 

 long, erect. Calyx 4-lobed ; lobes irregular, 2 large and 2 

 small, broadly lanceolate, cut nearly to base, much ciliate, the 

 2 smaller ones length of capsule, the larger pair much longer. 

 Corolla pale, small, xV"- ^o^g' 6- veined, tube very short ; 

 stamens short ; anthers included, reniform, bluish. Style 

 short, not reaching to outer margin of capsule ; stigma small. 

 Capsule obcordate, ^V'^- broad, deeply notched, glabrous, pale- 

 fawn, ciliolate. Seeds very minute, sub-obovate-oblong, slightly 

 convex, pale-yellowish, 9-10 in a cell. 



Hah. On open plains, among grasses and small herbage, 

 south of Dannevirke, County of Waipawa ; 1889 : W. C. 



Obs. I have diligently compared these four small species of 

 Veronica with the similar British species of this genus (as 

 described and drawn by Hookei', Sowerby, and Bentham) ; and, 

 although in some few and minor particulars they correspond 

 with tliose northern species, they differ largely in the more 

 important and grave characters. I regret that I did not 

 obtain any specimens of them in their early flowering state, 

 though had I only done so I should have missed their ripe 

 fruit. 



Order LVIII. PLANTAGiNEas. 

 Genus 1. Plantago, Linn, 

 1. P. dasyphylla, sp. nov. 



Plant perennial, small, tufted, gregarious ; rootstock thick, 

 hairy ; hairs dense, rather long, fine, pale-reddish-brown ; 

 rootlets very long, descending. Leaves suberect, 10-14, of 

 various lengths, narrow-oblong-lanceolate, lin.-lfin. long, 

 3-4 lines wide, tip subacute, thickened, gradually tapering 

 into petiole, thin, green (sometimes reddish), margins red, 

 entire (sometimes with 2 small blunt sinuate teeth on each 

 side), very hairy on both surfaces and at margins, but most so 

 on the under - surface ; hairs scattered, tortuous, thickish, 

 articulated; petioles fin.-l^in. long, slender, fiattish, slightly 

 hairy (hairs as those of leaves), bases much dilated and having 

 long reddish-brown hairs. Scapes 1-4 (usually 3) to a plant, 

 erect, much longer than leaves, 3in.-5in. long, very slender 



