L. Cockayne.— Notes on New Zealand Florist ic Botany. 177 



maphrodite, slightly sweet-scented, pedunculate with decurved or straight 

 green peduncle rather shorter than the flower, furnished with two minute, 

 broadly triangular, scarious brown bracts inserted a little below its centre. 

 Sepals orbicular, about one-half length of petals, green with broad, purplish, 

 minutely fimbriate margin. Petals waxy in appearance, lemon - yellow, 

 oblong, + 3 mm. long, obtuse, recurved at apex which on margin is some- 

 times purplish ; in bud deeply stained purple. 



The pollen is shed just before the flower opens or shortly afterwards 

 and so easily falls on the stigma. There is no honey. Abundance of 

 pollen reaches the stigma. After pollination the ovary, &c, rapidly 

 enlarges. 



In the neighbourhood of Wellington H. crassifolia commences to bloom 

 some time during the first two weeks of September. 



38. Hymenanthera obovata T. Kirk. 



Hymenanthera obovata, as established by T. Kirk in_1895 (Trans. N.Z. 

 Inst., vol. 27, p. 350), and upheld by Cheeseman in 1906 (Manual, p. 50), 

 is based on material from two sources — the Trelissick Basin (Canterbury) 

 and various localities in Nelson. An examination of the type material in 

 Kirk's herbarium shows that the Trelissick and Nelson material look very 

 different, and the feeling at once arises that the species as at present con- 

 stituted is a combination of two distinct groups of individuals, each of 

 which is entitled to rank as a species. 



The above difficulty is increased, firstly, by the imperfect knowledge of 

 the flowers of either the Trelissick or Nelson plants, and, secondly, by the 

 discovery by Mr. B. C. Aston, some years ago, of another group of indi- 

 viduals with, it is now known, a local distribution along the shores, &c, 

 of Cook Strait from the French Pass and Kapiti Island to Somes Island 

 in Wellington Harbour. This last-named group far more closely resembles 

 the Nelson than the Trelissick group — indeed, when the flowers of the Nelson 

 group are investigated it possibly will be found either that the two groups 

 are identical, or that they are microspecies which must be united under 

 one name. Likewise, judging from Kirk's type specimens, from my per- 

 sonal knowledge of the genus Hymenanthera in the Trelissick Basin, and 

 from fresh specimens of the plant in question recently collected in the above 

 locality by Professor Wall, it seems not unlikely that the Trelissick group 

 may eventually be referred to H. crassifolia. 



The present state of knowledge regarding Hymenanthera obovata, which 

 I have attempted to concisely indicate, demands that any further knowledge 

 should at once be made available for students and collectors, so that 

 the real status of the species, and of the groups cited above, may be 

 established. 



Thanks to Mr. Aston, who last year (1916) put me in the way of seeing 

 the Wellington plant in more than one locality, and who assisted me in col- 

 lecting ample flowering material, I am in a position to describe the Welling- 

 ton plant. Further, Mr. Aston at the close of the year 1917 collected 

 material of the Nelson plant from the Riwaka-Takaka hills, which he has 

 placed in my hands. Finally, Professor Wall has procured for me living 

 and dried material of the Trelissick plant ; while Miss Herriott (Biological 

 Laboratory, Canterbury College) sent me some time ago from Cass (Wai- 

 makariri River basin) seedlings of the Hymenanthera of that locality, which 

 must be either H. obovata T. Kirk (in part) or H. dentata var. alpina, 

 another group of quite uncertain position. 



