202 Transactions. — Botany. 



orbicular, 6-10 lines long, .sub-cuspidate, slightly tapering at 

 base, of a reddish -brown (sometimes of a dark-purple)" hue 

 above, pale dull-green below, closely reticulated ; primary veins 

 opposite, not extending to margin ; margin finely crenulate and 

 slightly recurved, largely ciliated with twisted variegated hairs ; 

 very hairy above and below on midrib and veins, with reddish 

 hairs ; petioles slender, 2 lines long, densely hairy ; stipules 

 hairy, broad, with long cuspidate subulate hard black tips. 

 Flowers : Male, very small, under 1 line, hairy, shortly peduncled, 

 2-3 together; corolla membranous, shallow, cup-shaped, 4-lobed 

 nearly to base; lobes large, spreading, ovate, 1-nerved, recurved; 

 stamens exserted, pendulous ; anthers large (for flower), elliptic, 

 whitish : Female, single and axillary, but close together in 

 opposite axils, sometimes three together ; peduncle short ; calyx 

 minute hairy ; corolla hairy, 1-| lines long, narrow infundibnli- 

 form, mouth 4-cleft, lobes recurved ; stigmas 2 lines long, 

 clothed with flatfish obtuse scale-like pubescence. Fruit red, 

 didymous, 3 lines broad, H lines long, each half-drupe orbicular; 

 often 2-3 drupaa very close together on opposite sides of the 

 slender branchlets. Seeds globose, 1 line diameter, whitish, 

 smooth, with a fine central ridge on the back, and a small and 

 deep sub-orbicular concavity at their junction, giving them 

 the curious appearance of little rounded univalve shells. 



Hah. Scattered on margins of low forests, near Norsewood, 

 County of Waipawa ; 1874-85 : W.C. 



Obs. I. I have long known this species of Coprosma ; but, 

 as it was very rarely ever seen by me in fruit, and never in 

 flower — from its flowering so very early in the spring, before 

 that I should visit those wet and cold forests — and from my 

 supposing it to be one of those already described, I paid no 

 great attention to it. Last year, however, through going thither 

 very early seeking Hepatic^ in fruit, I obtained flowering speci- 

 mens, and this summer its fruit; and now. after patient and 

 long examination, (for its flowers are very small and also scarce,) 

 1 have considered it to be a new and undescribed species ; cer- 

 tainly, in some respects, pretty near to both C. rotundifolia, A. 

 Cunn., and 0. tenuicaulis, Hook, fil., but I think distinct from 

 both, and from all other described species of this intricate and 

 puzzling genus ; its very peculiar seeds serve well to fix it. 

 Some of its leaves are not unfrequently dark-coloured, of a 

 peculiar purple-coppery, semi-bronzed appearance ; and this 

 hue sometimes extends to all on that branch or branchlet. The 

 great scarcity of its ripe fruit I attribute to their being early 

 eaten by birds and insects, as they are very fleshy and sweet. 



II. I may also observe that the tips of its branches and 

 branchlets often present a very singular appearance. A small, 

 very hairy ball, £ inch diameter, with a little crown of 3-4 

 narrow, long, and very hairy leaflets spreading from its summit, 



