384 Tr ansae tions. — Bo tany . 



has given me much trouble — (1) in obtaining flowering speci- 

 mens, for, though I brought away a large amount of it, 

 gathered casually on first seeing it (being struck with its 

 pleasing, neat, and healthy appearance), believing it to be 

 new, I found on diligent examination that I had not a single 

 flower among them all. So, though the distance was con- 

 siderable (for me, in my then present weak state), and I had 

 grave doubts as to my again finding the localities, I went 

 again to those woods, and after no small amount of trouble 

 and weariness I found the spots, and sat down and spent a 

 long time in overhauling the beds for flowers, and at last 

 found only a few — about seven or eight — specimens. (2.) On 

 close, patient examination I find this plant comes next to 

 S. parviflora, Banks and Sol., and also to S. oFigosperma, mini 

 (Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xviii., p. 257), but yet possessing 

 characters which those species have not, and its own peculiar 

 characters are also constant. 



Genus 3. Colobanthus, Bartling. 

 1. G. ccsspitosus, sp. nov. 



Plant annual, small, bushy, erect, and spreading, 2in.-3in. 

 high, much-branched from root, dark-green, glabrous; stems 

 and branches slender, dichotomous. Leaves few, distant, in 

 pairs on stems 5-8 lines apart, largely connate, narrow- 

 linear, 3-4 lines long, ^§in. wide, aristate, rather thickish, 

 not rigid, opaque, recurved. Flowers numerous, small, ter- 

 minal 2-3 together, and solitary axillary on stems, peduncles 

 3-8 lines long, slender, erect, filiform ; perianth 1 line long ; 

 sepals 4 (rarely 5) ovate-elliptic obtuse with broad white 

 margins ; petals ; stamens 4, opposite sepals ; styles 4-5, 

 stigmas largely penicillate, pale ; capsule a little shorter than 

 sepals, whitish ; valves 4 (sometimes 5), very broad and trun- 

 cate at tips. Seeds numerous, very minute, of various shapes 

 — broadly cuneate, subreniform-dimidiate, or semi-orbicular 

 and gibbous, tuberculate. 



ILib. On the hills at Napier, in dry spots ; 1894 : W. C. 



Obs. A species having affinity with G. repens, mihi (Trans. 

 N.Z. Inst., vol. xix., p. 261), and with other New Zealand 

 species, but of a different size and habit, as well as possessing 

 differential characters. It is also pretty closely allied to G. 

 kerguelensis, Hook, f., differing in the obtuse and margined 

 segments of its perianth, &c. 



Genus Cerastium, Linn. 



1. C. amblyodontum, sp. nov. 



Plant annual, simple, erect, slender, 7in.-8in. high, very 

 hairy. Leaves few, scattered, patent, pale-green ; at base, 4, 



