248 Transactions. — Botany. 



into 4-5, rarely 8-10, lobes. Stamens the same number as 

 the lobes. Females: always solitary, erect, ^-^ inch long. 

 Calyx adnate to the ovary, limb truncate or obscurely toothed. 

 Corolla tubular, 3-4-lobed. Drupe -J inch long, oblong or 

 ovoid, generally pale red in southern specimens, often white 

 and transparent in the north. 



C. fcetidissima forms a very considerable proportion of the 

 undergrowth in the mountain forests of the South Island, 

 but is not nearly so plentiful in the North. The horribly 

 disagreeable odour of the leaves when bruised or drying, and 

 the large terminal flowers, render it easy to recognise. The 

 flowers are very frequently polygamous, and when so the calyx 

 is always well-developed, which is not always the case in the 

 normal male flowers. Its nearest ally is the following species. 



26. C. colensoi. 



Hook, fil., Handbk. N.Z. Flora., p. 117. C.mijrtilli folia var. linearis, Hook, 

 fil,, Flora Nov. Zeal., i., p. 108. 



North Island.- — Thames goldfields, J. Adanisl Te Aroha, 

 Pirougia, and Karioi Mountains, altitude 1,500 to 3,000 feet, 

 T.F.C. Mountains near Cook Strait, Colcnso ("Handbook"). 



South Island. — Stewart Island, D. Petrie I 



A small, slender, open or closely-branched shrub, 4-8 feet 

 high. Branches slender, terete, puberulous ; bark pale, when 

 old often loose and papery. Leaves yellowish-green, variable 

 in size, -J-l inch long, linear-oblong or linear-obovate to broad- 

 oblong or obovate, obtuse, retuse, or emarginate, rarely acute, 

 narrowed into rather slender petioles, rather membranous ; 

 margins flat or slightly recurved ; veins usually indistinct. 

 Flowers solitary, terminating the branchlets. Males: On very 

 short decurved pedicels. True calyx wanting, but corolla seated 

 in an involucel composed of a pair of depauperated leaves and 

 their stipules. Corolla small, ^ inch long, broadly campanulate, 

 4-lobed. Stamens, 4-5. Females: On short decurved pedicels 

 as in the males. Calyx-limb minute, 4-5-toothed. Corolla not 

 seen. Drupe (uiu'ipe) oblong, i inch long. 



It will be noticed that the above description, which is drawn 

 up entirely from specimens collected by myself on Te Aroha 

 and Pirongia mountains, hardly corresponds with that given in 

 the " Handbook." Sir Joseph Hooker, who has examined my 

 spccimejis, is inclined to think that they represent a new species; 

 but Mr. N. E. Brown places them under C. colensoi ; stating, 

 however, tliat they do not match the typical form of that plant. , 

 Kot being acquainted with the true ('. colensoi, I can hardly state 

 what the difffrcnces are, for in a genus like Caprusma too much 

 reliance cannot be placed ou descriptions alone. However, the 



