T. KiuK. — On Dactylaiithus taylori. 495 



interest to draw the attention of surveyors, explorers, and 

 settlers in forest districts to one of the most remarkable plants 

 in the flora. 



The large rhizome by which it is attached to the roots of 

 its host is usually subterranean, very woody, rounded or 

 amorphous, entire or deeply lobed, and forms a kind of boss, 

 covered on the surface with rounded papillas, each of which 

 marks the point at which a flowering-stem was given off. 

 The rhizomes vary greatly in size ; some might be completely 

 hidden under a penny-piece, while others are fully 8in. in 

 diameter and 4in. or 5in. thick. When growing on a declivity, 

 roots of the host-plant, from which the soil has been washed 

 away, may be found with the rhizome of the parasite fully ex- 

 posed, when the position of the flowering-stems is easily made 

 out ; but usually the rhizome is buried in the humus amongst 

 which it grows, and only the upper part of the flowering-stems 

 rises above the soil to a greater or less extent. 



The flowering-stems are dioecious, from 2in. to Sin. long, 

 somewhat club-shaped, and clothed with brown ovate or oblong 

 imbricating scales, which are evidently fleshy when first de- 

 veloped, but at length become so brittle that they crumble 

 into minute fragments at the slightest touch. The flowers are 

 developed on very short spadices, lin. to l|^in. in length at 

 the apex of the stem, and are mostly hidden by the apical 

 scales ; the males, which I have not seen, are covered with 

 crowded anthers, and the females with sessile ovaries in great 

 profusion. The ripe fruit is about the size of a radish-seed, and 

 contains a minute undivided embryo, imbedded in granular 

 endosperm. Unhappily, nothing is at present known of the 

 process of germination and development. 



Although the dull-brown colour of the flowering-stems 

 renders the portion that appears above ground very incon- 

 spicuous, the flowers emit a strong perfume. In a letter to 

 Sir James Hector, Mr. Hill states that he was enabled to 

 discover the plant solely through the "delicious daphne-like 

 fragrance which it emitted," his attention being first attracted 

 by the perfume. 



The large area over which it has already been observed, 

 extending from the Hauraki Gulf to Taranaki and Eangitikei, 

 warrants the idea that a careful search would be rewarded by 

 its discovery in localities where its occurrence has not hitherto 

 been suspected. x\ny explorer or settler who would communi- 

 cate a supply of good specimens would render a great service 

 to botanists at large, although there is nothing in the material 

 that has come under my notice to support the idea of there 

 being more than a single species. 



