266 Transactions. — Batumi. 



corrugated at base ; stigma sub-penicillate ; ovary oblong, gla- 

 brous, bairy at tip around base of style ; bairs long, wbite. 



Hah. Open billy country in tbe interior, at Patea, between 

 Napier and Tongariro ; kindly sent me by Mr. A. Lascelles. 



Obs. I bave had but one small branch of this plant, con- 

 taining, however, 10 heads of flowers. It seems to be a short, 

 much branched shrub, presenting a Daphne-like appearance, and 

 would make a pretty garden plant ; flowers inodorous. A few 

 perianths possess 3, and even 4, fertile authers, while many 

 have 2 abortive filaments (some only 1) in addition to the 

 anther-bearing ones, of the same length, and opposite to the 

 other 2 lobes of the perianth. As a species it is very distinct 

 from the known New Zealand ones, (and more so from those of 

 Australia,) but it approaches P. longifolia, Banks and Sol., and 

 P. gnidia, Forst. 



Order LXXI. URTICEJE. 

 Genus 4. Australina, G-audichaud. 



1. A. hispidula, sp. nov. 



Plant small ; every part, including flowers, being more or 

 less hispid ; stems 3-4 inches long, stoutish, implexed, finely 

 and closely retrorse-pubescent, procumbent, creeping, rooting at 

 nodes ; branches numerous, short, ascending, f - 1 inch long. 

 Leaves small, sub-reniform and sub-orbicular, always broader 

 than long, truncate at base, 1-2 lines long, 1^-2^ lines broad, 

 largely and regularly 5-crenate, hispid and rough with raised 

 points and short white hairs, dark green above, pale below, 

 veins very stout below, and with margins red ; petioles rather 

 long, slender, reddish ; stipules 2 lines long, subulate, hairy, 

 recurved. Male flower single, or 2-3 together, iu upper axils on 

 one long succulent peduncle, twice the length of petiole ; peri- 

 anth sessile, diverging, sub-boat-shaped, divided at middle into 

 two concave lobes, the outer one the largest, membranaceous, 

 bladdery, light-green splashed with red, margins irregularly 

 crenulate, dark-green ; stamen large, stout, glabrous, trans- 

 versely ribbed on the back, much recurved ; auther large, peta- 

 loid, pure white splashed with red on the outside. Female 

 flower in lower axils, in pairs but separate, sub-sessile with two 

 small coloured bracteoles ; perianth ovate, sub-compressed, semi- 

 transparent, light-green with a narrow dark-red margin, mouth 

 somewhat 3-fld, tips laciniate ; style and stigma excluded, as 

 long as perianth, obtuse, recurved, brown, very shaggy, hairs 

 flat and branched. 



Hab. Sides of streams in shaded spots near Norsewood, 

 County of Waipawa ; 1883-85 : W.C. Also eastern bases of 

 Ruahine mountain range, same county ; November, 1885 : Mr, 

 A. Hamilton. 



