462 Transactions. — Botany. 



sub-scarious, brownish, tips bifid and much and sharply laci- 

 niate, cells oblong, minute ; with additional transverse stipules 

 or scales on petiole at base below and in front of lateral stipules, 

 sub-quadrate, 1 line broad, the top deeply laciniate with 7-8 

 long acuminate laciniae. Scapes rather stout (for plant), the 

 main (or central) one fin. long, erect, bearing at top 3 flowers 

 (rarely 2) in a sub-fascicled corymb ; pedicels xVn. long, with 

 2 minute bracteoles together at their fascicled base ; other 

 scapes axillary, simple, their stems iin. long, 1-flowered, with 

 a single small bracteole below calyx. Calyx broadly cam- 

 panulate, xoi^^- lo^g> dark-red, 5-lobed ; lobes cut nearly half- 

 way to base, rounded and sub-acute ; tips thin, many and 

 sharply toothed ; teeth irregular ; veined, veins many, pro- 

 minent, branching. Corolla (damaged) whitish, small, extend- 

 ing but little beyond calyx. 



Hab. Swampy spots, base of Mount Tougariro, County of 

 East Taupo ; 1889 : Mr. H. Hill. 



Order XXVII. Halorage^. 

 Genus 1. Haloragis, Forst. 



I. H. bihractcolata, sp. nov. 



A small spreading ascending few^-branched wiry herb ; 

 branches 5in.-7in. long, wiry, few-leaved. Leaves opposite 

 in pairs, distant (lin. or more apart), petioled, broadly oblong, 

 sub-acute, 2-3 lines long, reticulate, margins thickened, white, 

 recurved, usually with 3 coarse and deep curved laciniate 

 serratures on each side, which also have thickened margins, 

 upper surface glabrous, the lower hairy, also petioles and 

 stems ; petioles short. Flowers axillary, solitary, peduncled, 

 opposite (generally 2 pairs) at tip of branch, 3-4 lines apart. 

 Nut small, with flower 1 line long, smooth, glossy, purple, 

 obtusely 4-angled, turgid ; 2 appressed bracts at base, glabrous, 

 ovate-lanceolate ; peduncle very short, slender. Calyx-lobes 

 erect, deltoid-acuminate, margins thickened and recurved, with 

 a thick central line resembling a midrib. Stigmas 4, sessile, 

 large, spreading, echinately bushy ; hairs coarse, septate- 

 rnoniliform, obtuse. Anthers linear, truncate, emarginate, 

 yellowish, pendulous. Petals 0. 



Hah. Dry spots, sides of Mount Tongariro, County of East 

 Taupo ; 1889 : Mr. H. Hill. 



Obs. I. A species having pretty close affinity with H. 

 deprcssa, Hook, f., but differing from that species in its leaves 

 being glabrous, smaller, and petiolate, with different serratures, 

 and not " shghtly scabrid on each side ; " also, in its nut being 

 much smaller, less angled and costate, with 2 bracts, and iu 

 its very different stigmas. 



II. Benthara, in his more full and more recent description 



