276 Transactions. — Botany. 



Aet. XXXIII. — Notes on the New Zealand Species of the 

 Genus Andresea, together with Descriptions of some Neio 

 Species. 



By E. Bkown. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 2nd November, 



1892.~] 



Plates XXI.-XXXI. (in Part). 



The following account of the genus Andrccea as it occurs in 

 New Zealand is a portion of the results of ten years' work, 

 studying and collecting the Musci of New Zealand in their 

 native habitats, and figuring the various species and varieties 

 with the camera lucida. All the plants described have been 

 collected by myself, many of them in localities previously un- 

 botanized, notably the Clinton Pass, Sutherland Falls, South 

 Fjord of Lake Te Anau, in Otago; Moa Creek, Walker's Pass, 

 the Craigieburn and Puketeraki Mountains, in Canterbury ; and 

 the western slopes of the Southern Alps in Westland ; together 

 with Mount Thompson and the Euggedy Mountains in Stewart 

 Island. I am with reluctance approaching this subject pre- 

 maturely, much remaining yet to do, but from circumstances 

 which have recently transpired I am forced to do so in order 

 to protect my own rights ; for, acting on the suggestion of the 

 late Sir Julius von Haast, I presented nearly all my specimens 

 and camera-lucida drawings to the Christchurch Museum, 

 where they remain for any one to describe who may think fit 

 to rob me of "my hard-earned rights. 



The genus Andreaa in New Zealand, as in other countries, 

 comprises species of an alpine or subalpine character, only 

 growing under an elevation of 2,000ft. when exposed to a con- 

 stant stream of moist air in exceptionally cold localities. 

 They are found in rocky situations, often growing under great 

 difficulties, their roots fixed in rocky depressions, which after 

 rain retain a few drops of moisture, exposed at the same time 

 to the full heat of the sun, and to periods of drought which 

 would utterly destroy them were they not possessed of the 

 power to extract moisture from the air. I have often, when 

 collecting these plants in dry weather, had to moisten them 

 with saliva, whereupon the apparently dead plant, owing to 

 its hygrometric leaves, would revive. With regard to the 

 leaves, those found about the middle of the stem have in 

 many of the species much resemblance to each other, varying 

 principally in breadth and obliqueness. This is very per- 

 plexing, so I have adopted the plan of figuring all the leaves 

 from base to apex of the plant, including the perichsetial, 



