246 Transactions. — Botany. 



gradually narrowed into a very short petiole or quite sessile. 

 Flowers terminating short lateral brauchlets. Males : In fascicles 

 of 3-4, or, more rarely, solitary. True calyx wanting ; but a 

 4-toothed cupuliform involucre, composed of a pair of depau- 

 perated leaves and their stipules, invests the base of each 

 fascicle and also of each flower. Corolla broadly campanulate, 

 ■J-i inch long, deeply 5-lobed. Stamens, 4-5. Females soli- 

 tary, much smaller than the males. Calyx adnate to the ovary, 

 its limb 4-toothed or irregularly notched. Corolla tubular, 

 i-^ inch long, 3-4-lobed. Drupe variable in shape, oblong to 

 globose, ^ inch long, blueish or blueish-black. 



One of the largest of the species, being sometimes 20 feet 

 high. It is allied on the one hand to C. cunnimjhamii, and on 

 the other to C. Unanifolia. From the first it differs in the more 

 spreading habit, dark-coloured bark, smaller narrower leaves, 

 and smaller and fewer flowers ; from the last in the smaller, 

 less acute, and more coriaceous leaves, in the stipules not being 

 sheathing, in the inflorescence not being so distinctly termmal, 

 and in the less-developed calyx of the female flowers. In the 

 swampy kahikatea forests of the Thames and Waikato it is a 

 most abundant plant, often forming the chief undergrowth over 

 large areas. Though common in the South Island, it does not 

 seem to attain the same size as in the North. 



24. C. linariifolia. 



Hook, fil., Handbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 118. C. propinqua var. y. Hook, fil., 



Flora Nov. Zeal., i., p. 109. 



North Island. — Hilly and mountainous districts, and in the 

 interior, as far north as the Thames Valley. 



So^ith Island. — Abundant throughout, especially in river 

 valleys. 



Altitudinal range, from sea-level to 2,500 feet. 



A large branching shrub or small tree, 6-20 feet high. 

 Branches slender, spreading ; younger puberulous ; bark dark- 

 grey. Leaves all opposite, ^-1^ inch long, ^-^ inch broad, 

 linear or linear-lanceolate, more rarely oblong-lanceolate, acute 

 or acuminate, flat, hardly coriaceous, suddenly narrowed into 

 rather short slender petioles, blackish when dry, veins indis- 

 tinct. Stipules glabrous or puberulous, upper ones connate 

 for some length and sheathing the branch, margins usually 

 ciliate. Flowers terminating leafy lateral branchlets. Males : 

 in 8-5-flowered fascicles ; each fascicle enclosed in one or two 

 involucels composed of depauperated leaves and their stipules, 

 and each flower with minute bracts at its base. True calyx 

 wanting. Corolla broadly campanulate, l-^ inch long, divided 

 about half-way down into 4-6 lobes ; lobes usually revolute. 

 Btamens, 4-5. Females: always solitary, seated within one or 



