402 Transactions. — Botany. 



ones stem-clasping, nearly lin. long. Flowers nearly sessile 

 along the more or less elongated branches of the once-forked 

 or dichotomous cyme, with a leafy bract under each flower, 

 thus forming one-sided interrupted leafy spikes. Calyx nar- 

 row, 3-4 lines long, with 4 (rarely 5) angles and acute teeth 

 or lobes. Corolla-tube usually exceeding the calyx, but some- 

 times shorter ; lobes ovate or oblong, much shorter than the 

 tube. Capsule oblong, shorter than the calyx. Seeds small, 

 reticulated-striate. 



Hab. Woods, highlands near East Cape; 1893 : Mr. H. Hill. 



Obs. This species, the only one in Australia, where it is 

 generally found in all the colonies, and also in Tasmania, is 

 also in New Caledonia and the Loochoo Islands, and is said to 

 differ only from E. spicata (a species common in the Mediter- 

 ranean region, and eastward at least as far as Afghanistan) in 

 the flowers, usually but not commonly 4-merous. 



2. Alisma plantago, Linn. 



Eootstock perennial, sometimes very hard, and almost 

 bulbous, with the thickened sheathing bases of the 

 petioles. Leaves ovate-oblong or elliptical, shortly acu- 

 minate, 3in. to 4in. long in well-grown specimens, usually 

 7-nerved, the transverse veinlets very oblique, not close, and 

 more or less contracted by reticulations. Flowering-stem 

 lft. to 4ft high, with a large loose panicle, often above 

 lft. long, with whorled divaricate branches and pedicels. 

 Outer perianth- segments ovate striate persistent, above 1 line 

 long ; inner ones twice as large, of a pale-pink, very fugacious. 

 Carpels 15 to 20, obovate, laterally flattened, 1 to 14; lines 

 long, bearing the remains of the style on the inner edge below 

 the apex, and marked on the back with an impressed or 

 slightly prominent dorsal nerve, the whole forming a flat 

 ring of 2f to 6 lines diameter with a depressed centre. 



Hab. In watercourses on the banks of the Eiver Tukituki, 

 east of Napier, Hawke's Bay ; 1892 and 1893 : Mr. H. Hill. 



Obs. This species is found in New South Wales and in 

 Victoria, and is also frequent in many parts of Britain by 

 lakes, streams, and ditches. Mr. Hill first met with it in 

 1892, but long past flowering, and much decayed in its package 

 when it reached me, so I was obliged to wait another year, 

 when, again through the kindness of Mr. Hill, I obtained 

 better specimens. 



As there is no difference that I am aware of between those 

 two plants found in New Zealand by Mr. Hill and the Aus- 

 tralian ones, I have used Bentham's able descriptions of them, 

 copied from his " Flora Australiensis." 



