262 Transactions. — Botany. 



Order XXXIII.— UMBELLIFEK^. 

 Genus 1. Hydrocotyle, Linn, 

 1. H. involucrata , sp. uov. 



Plant procumbent, trailing. Stems 10-00 inches long, 

 slender, glabrous, vnth a few weak scattered hairs ; nodes 3-5 

 inches apart, each having a large clasping sub-orbicular-reniform 

 stipule, the margins irregularly and minutely lobed and toothed, 

 pellucid and highly cellular ; cells large oblong. Leaves few, 

 distant, membranous, somewhat roughish from raised bases of 

 hairs, dull light-green, reniform, 1-lJ inches broad, 6-lobed ; 

 lobes rounded, cut into one-fifth of leaf, their sinuses overlap- 

 ping ; margins irregular, sub-crenate-toothed ; basal sinus very 

 broad, the margins more acutely toothed ; 8-veined, veins (and 

 margins) light-reddish ; hairy on both sides, but much more so 

 below ; hairs short, thickish, acute, white ; petioles very long 

 3-5 inches, slender, weak, hairy below with long scattered weak 

 1-nerved reflexed hairs that increase in density upwards towards 

 the apex. Peduncle one-third length of leaves, 1-li inches 

 long, hairy. Umbels 8-14-flowered, in a compact sub-globular 

 head. Involucre in 2 rows, composed of 10-12 convex incurved 

 membranous leaflets with darkish-brown centres and pellucid 

 margins ; the outer, ovate, margins laciniate ; the inner, linear- 

 oblong, margins entire. Flowers rather large, pale-brown, 

 pedicelled ; pedicels erect, glabrous, 1 line long, with sometimes 

 a small bracteole near the apex ; petals valvate, broadly ovate, 

 1-nerved; tips sub-acute and obtuse, their margins finely 

 creuulate-toothed (sub lente) ; stamens largely exserted, curved ; 

 anthers orbicular (a little broader than long), pale ; styles 

 stout, long, at first converging, afterwards very divergent. Fruit 

 rather large, pale-greenish-brown, nearly orbicular, -^ inch 

 broad, straight below, apex very slightly notched, flat, glabrous, 

 shining, thickest at centre, intermediate ribs obscure, dorsal 

 edge of carpels obtuse ; seed narrow, linear-ovate, obtuse. 



Hah. Low wet spots in forests, hilly country north of 

 Napier, County of Wairoa ; 1886 : Mr. A. Hamilton. 



Obs. A species having some affinity with H. nov(B-zealandi(B, 

 D.G. , H. 2)terocarpa, F. Miiell., and H. cagans, Hook, fil., (an 

 Australian species,) but differing from them (and from all the 

 species described in the " Handbook, Flora N.Z.,") by its 

 involucral leaflets ; in this respect, however, it approaches 

 a few of the Australian species ; also, the two newly-described 

 species (mihi), H. colorata and H. alsojjhila,'^ in their floral 

 bracteoles. 



• " Trans. K.Z. Inst." vol. xviii., pp. 260-261. 



