CoLENSO. — On New Phcenogamic Plants. 481 



II. I have already described another species, P. macro- 

 carpa (" Trans. N.Z. Inst.," voL xiv., p. 331), and this pre- 

 sent plant I also believe to be a valid species, or, at least, 

 a well-marked and distinct variety. It differs considerably 

 from the two well-known species in the " Handbook," P. alhi- 

 Jiora and P. rosea ; not merely in the remarkable and con- 

 stant form and size of its leaves, but also in its much larger 

 flowers of a different shape and colour, as well as in other 

 characters {vide descript.). 



III. I was much struck with the peculiar appearance and 

 graceful beauty of the plant when I first saw it ; though then 

 (in May) it was not in flower, only in fruit ; and it was 

 through my going purposely to those farther forests in the 

 following summer that I was rewarded by finding it in flower. 

 It is certainly an elegant garden plant. In general, in the two 

 other and commoner species (named above) the leaves vary 

 materially on the same plant, even on the same branch ; but 

 such is not the case with this one. 



Order LVIII. Plantagine^. 

 Genus 1. Plantago, Linn. 



1. P. picta, sp. nov. 



Plant perennial, sub-rosulate, flat, appressed to ground, 

 sub 3in. diameter; rootstock very stout and densely hairy ; 

 hairs rather long, red-brown, shining. Leaves sub 30, 

 spreading, narrow-oblong-spathulate, lin.-ljin. long, 4 lines 

 broad at middle, sub-coriaceous, opaque, veined, veins ob- 

 solete, margins entire wuth 3 distant narrow patent teeth 

 (or sub-lobes) at middle on each side, glabrous with a few 

 scattered w^eak hairs on the upper surface and forming small 

 tufts at bases of teeth, and sub-ciliate at margins ; tip subacute ; 

 petiole very broad, 2 lines wide, flat, 7-nerved, densely hairy 

 at extreme base ; hairs long, reddish-brown. Scapes 8-10 to 

 a plant, l|in.-lfin. long, extending beyond leaves, slightly 

 hairy (more so at top) ; hairs flatfish, adpressed, white, articu- 

 late. Spike broadly- or deltoid-elliptic, obtuse, 5 lines long, 

 sub-truncate and 4 lines wide at base, slightly compressed, 

 8-9-flowered, the lowest pair free, subsessile. Bracts large, 

 broadly ovate, dark brownish-black with broad white mem- 

 branous and ciliate margins, much veined, veins branching, 

 hairy within at base between bract and calyx. Calyx-sepals 

 (4) much the same as bracts, only narrower. Corolla large 

 for plant, very membranous, lobes spreading, white with a 

 dark longitudinal centre, broadly ovate, margins entire and 

 not involute ; tip obtuse, mucronulate, and minutely toothed 

 on each side. Anthers exserted, ochraceous, large, 1 line long, 

 ovate-cordate, the centre deeply sulcate ; their basal extremi- 

 31 



