CoLENSO. — Oil new PhcBuoganiic Plants. 85 



nous-coriaceous, green above, very pale (almost dead-white) 

 below, glabrous, but slightly and finely pubescent at margins ; 

 veins obscure and much reticulate on upper surface (com- 

 poundly anastomosing, having copious areolae between them 

 with free veinlets (somewhat like those of some ferns — ex. 

 Polypodiiim billardieri), seen clearly when held up between 

 the eye and light ; petioles pubescent and ciliate, 1|— 3 lines 

 long, fiattish at junction with lamina, sub-trinerved. Stipules 

 short, broadly-ovate, sub-acute, pubescent, the lower connate. 

 Flowers rather large, opposite, supra-axillary, single, and 

 2-4-fascicled on short, stout, rigid peduncles ; pedicels, 

 calyx, and corolla sub-hyaline-membranaceous, very pu- 

 bescent, pale-greenish with dark-purple stripes and dashes ; 

 calyx rather large, half the length of corolla, cup-shaped, 

 4-lobed, two long and two short lobes, each pair opposite 

 and adpressed, the long pair linear obtuse, the short pair 

 broadly ovate and sub-acute ; corolla 1^2^ lines long, 4-fid 

 cut nearly to base; lobes linear (or linear-oblong), obtuse, 

 recurved : male (flower larger than female) — pedicel short, 

 stout, curved ; the corolla coarsely and sub-strigosely pubes- 

 cent, oblong and pendulous before expanding, lobes much 

 revolute in flowering ; stamens large, exserted, pendulous ; 

 filaments 3 lines long, finely pubescent, white, their bases 

 flattened ; anthers 2 lines long, linear-oblong, stout, greenish- 

 white ; tips acute, bases sagittate : fern. — styles 2, stout, 

 4 lines long, obtuse, white, densely pubescent : herni. — as m. 

 and fern, (supra) conjoined in one flower, the styles a little 

 longer and narrower, sometimes 5-7 lobes to the corolla : and 

 the three kinds of flowers on one branchlet. Drupe small, 

 globular, 2 lines diameter, white, glabrous, shining, semi- 

 pellucid, flesh juicy and sweet ; nuts 2, flattish-hemispherical, 

 convex on one side flat on the other, 1 line diameter, white. 



Hah. Dry woods south of Dannevirke, County of Waipawa; 

 flowering October, fruiting April, 1887 and 1888 : W. C. 



Obs. I. This is a highly curious species, presenting a very 

 peculiar aspect, both when in foliage only as well as when in 

 flower ; differing greatly from all tlie other species of this 

 genus known to me. Its very long, lithe, pendulous, and 

 strictly divaricate branches — their few small, orbicular, and dis- 

 tant leaves, wdth their two contrast colours — and its large and 

 exposed flowers — give it a unique appearance ; to which may 

 also be added the novelty of its pure-white fruit — rare in this 

 genus. 



II. It does not appear to be very common here (where so 

 many other of its congeners abound), and it was some days 

 before I succeeded in finding a single female plant — though 

 I subsequently detected 3-4 others. Another shrub was her- 

 maphrodite, or, more strictly speaking, polygamous — the first, 



