520 Transaciions. — Botany. 



short, included, style scarcely exceeding the antiaers. Cap- 

 sule ovate-oblong, coinpresse<i laterally, seated in a cupular 

 disk. Logania ciliolata, Hook, f., Plandbk., 737. Mitrasacme 

 hookeri, J. Buchanan, in Trans. N.Z. Inst., xiv. (1881), 348, 

 t. xix., f. 1." 



South Island: Nelson — Amuri, T. Kirk; Mount Frank- 

 lin, F. Ct. Gihbs ! Canterbury — Browning's Pass and source 

 of the Eangitata, Sir Julius von Haast ! Arthur's Pass, T. 

 Kirk; source of the Waimakariri, /. B. Armstrong! Power's 

 country, /. Hadrell ! Westland — Mountains opposite Jack- 

 son's, L. Cockayne ! Otago — Mountains of the west coast, 

 /. Buchanan ! 3,000ft. -5,000ft. 



Probably not infrequent in alpine situations. Specimens 

 turn black when dried. This species varies to a considerable 

 extent in the length of the mature leaves and diameter of the 

 branches; the former range from -|in.-fin., and except at the 

 apex are usually deeply concave for their entire length. The 

 sa.me plant may produce both solitary and fasciculate flowers, 

 but when all the flowers are solitary the floi'al leaf has a 

 largely-developed membranous base, with the fiee portion 

 reduced to a mere point or knot. Mr. Buchanan's drawing 

 represents a large form in wdiich the flowers are more distant 

 from the apex of the branch than in the form with short 

 leaves ; but there is a great amount of variation in all these 

 points. Tetrandrous flowers appear to be confined to plants 

 with short leaves. I am indebted to Mr. Buchanan for speci- 

 mens showing the young leaves. 



I have dedicated this remarkable plant to the memory 

 of my friend the late Mr. Justice Gillies, an enthusiastic 

 naturalist, whose munificence to the Auckland Institute and 

 University College should be long remembered. 



V. cujjressoidcs, Hook, f., Handbk., 212; Bot. Mag., t. 73-13. 



Leaves of the young state linear- or ovate-oblong, often 

 cuneate below, acute, toothed, lobed or pinnatifid, narrowed 

 into short petioles which are free at the base. Mature leaves 

 J^in.-Jg-in. long, ovate-oblong, obtuse, opposite leaves con- 

 nate at the base, patent or appressed above. Flowers very 

 small, 2-8 at the tips of the branchlets forming a small oblong 

 head, sessile or very shortly pedicellate. Bracts equalling the 

 deeply 4-cleft calyx, sepals broadly ovate, obtuse ; corolla- 

 tube very short and broad, limb spreading, upper lobe linear, 

 exceeding the others which are broad and rounded ; filaments 

 lengthening after anthesis. Capsule cuneate-oblong or ovate, 

 retuse, turgid. V. cupressoides, var. variabilis, N. E. Brown, 



* Ml-. Buchanan's diagrams of the corolla and stamens of this and 

 other species show the stamens opposite the petals instead of alternating 

 with them. 



