L, Cockayne. — Notes on New Zealand Floristic Botany, 175 



and of Hooker (for the type of Gunnera densiflora), my opinion is that the 

 New Zealand plants are all one and the same, and that the Tasmanian may 

 also belong to the same species. On the other hand, the New Zealand 

 Gunnera, accepting Schindler's description and illustration of the Tasmanian, 

 differs from the latter in the petals, which are much longer and narrower 

 in the New Zealand than in the Tasmanian plant, and in the shape of the 

 drupe, pyriform in the New Zealand, ovoid according to Hooker ex Schindler 

 in the Tasmanian plant. Also Schindler's figure shows the margin of the 

 leaf of his plant as strongly ciliated, whereas in the New Zealand plants 

 the ciliation is virtually confined to young leaves. Bearing the above in 

 mind, it seems best to maintain Gunnera densiflora as a species, but to 

 remember that it is extremely closely related to G. cordifolia Hook. f. of 

 Tasmania, and is a further link between the floras of the eastern Australian 

 and New Zealand regions. 



35. Haastia recurva Hook. f. var. Wallii Cockayne var. nov. 



Foliis et capitulis quam ilia typi minoribus ; plerumque pilis albidis 

 munitis sed eis prope ramulorum apices interdum subfulvidis tinctis ; bracteis 

 involucri apiculatis. 



The variety differs from any example of Haastia recurva that I have 

 seen hitherto in the much smaller size of all its parts, in its dense wool being 

 white nearly everywhere and only slightly fulvous near the apices of the 

 branchlets, and in the apiculate apex of the involucral bracts. The leaves 

 are generally less than 10 mm. long, or only half the length of good-sized 

 leaves of the type. The flower-heads are 7 mm. diam., or not half the size 

 of medium-sized heads in the type. 



The plant was collected by Professor A. Wall on a shingle-slip near the 

 summit of Mount Fyffe, Seaward Kaikoura Mountains. Unfortunately, 

 only the one plant was noted. On receiving the specimen I thought this 

 plant with white wool and slender branches might be the common form 

 of the Kaikoura Mountains in general, but upon comparison with Mr. Aston's 

 specimens from Mount Tapuaenuku (Inland Kaikoura Mountains) this 

 apparently is not the case. Specimens from Shingly Range (Awatere) also 

 belong to the type. 



36. Haastia Sinclairii Hook. f. 



Judging from specimens in my herbarium, there appear to be two dis- 

 tinct groups of plants included under Haastia Sinclairii Hook. f. by Cheese- 

 man (Manual, p. 321). One of these gronps is figured in Cheeseman's 

 Illustrations of the N.Z. Flora, pi. 100, and this appears characteristic of 

 the species so far as the North-western and Western Botanical Districts 

 are concerned ; . but the Fiord Botanical District group appears to differ in 

 certain particulars as compared with the more northern plant, especially 

 in its smaller leaves, which are covered beneath much more thinly with 

 fulvous (not white) wool, and above are thinly covered with wool or, at 

 times, almost glabrous. Also, the heads of the Fiord plant are much smaller. 

 I do not propose here to separate the species into two varieties, the intention 

 of this note being to call the attention of collectors in the area of the species 

 to probable differences in plants of this species which they may find. 



In the Illustrations of the N.Z. Flora Cheeseman comments upon the 

 distribution of Haastia Sinclairii as follows : " H. Sinclairii, which is a true 

 : shingle-slip ' plant, never found away from the slopes of dry shingle which 

 form such a prominent feature on the eastern 'side of the Southern Alps." 



