464 Transactions. — Botany. 



styles far exceeding the stamens, and in its larger and more 

 richly-coloured anthers. In its flowering state it is a 

 strikingly handsome plant. 



Order XXXVIII. Eubiacejs. 

 Genus 1. Coprosma, Forst. 

 1. C. aurantiaca, sp. nov. 



An erect rather rigid thickly-branched glabrous shrub, 

 .8ft. -10ft. high ; bark brownish. Branches opposite, spreading, 

 sub-rigid, patent ; branchlets minutely and thickly puberu- 

 lent. Leaves lateral in opposite pairs, and 2-4 together fas- 

 cicled at tips of sniall branchlets, oblong and oblong-obovate, 

 5-7 lines long, 2^3|- lines broad, glabrous, green, somewhat 

 thickish, margins sub-sinuate red ; tips rounded, sometimes 

 slightly apiculate, miuutely ciliolate ; nnich reticulately 

 veined, veins not prominent ; tapering to base of petiole ; 

 petiole very short, glabrous. Stipules very small, sub-ovate, 

 thickisli, puberulent. Flowers : Male, sub-sessile, axillary, 

 solitary in opposite axils, and sometimes 3 together. Caly- 

 «ine lobes 4, connate ; 2 of them large oblong obtuse, opposite, 

 margins entire ; and 2 small, their tips irregularly toothed, 

 coloured, their edges minutely ciliolate. Corolla broadly cam- 

 panulate, greenish dashed Avith purple streaks, 2 lines long, 

 3 lines diameter, 5-cleft cut three-fifths to base ; lobes sub- 

 oblong-ovate, sub-acute, spreading, much recurved, 1-nerved 

 with branching veinlets at tips. Stamens 4, much exserted, 

 pendulous ; filaments puberulous ; anthers one-third length of 

 filaments, oblong, striate ; tip obtuse ; base sagittate. Fruit 

 solitary, globular, size of a small pea, stalked, clear golden- 

 yellow, very sweet. Seeds narrow-oblong, 2 lines long, wliite, 

 thickish, gibbous and deeply striate on the outside, flattish and 

 smooth on the inside. 



Hah. On low flats, sides of streams, open lands south of 

 Dannevirke, County of Waipawa ; 1886-89: W. C. Forming 

 dense impenetrable thickets ; also, but more sparingly, in 

 similar localities near Norsewood ; 1884 : W. C. 



Obs. This plant has been known to me for some time, 

 especially in its fruiting state, when it is a conspicuous object 

 even at a distance, from the profusion of its bright-golden 

 fruit. Its flowering-season must be both early in the spring 

 and soon over, for I had visited the shrubs late in August, 

 when there were no signs of flowers ; and again afterwards 

 early in October, when there was not one remaining of the 

 female, and only a very few of the male flowers. At the same 

 time the many other species of Coprosma close by had scarcely 

 yet expanded their flowers. Thi-ough my not having met 

 with perfect flowering specimens, I had delayed describing 



