CoLENSO. — On new Phccnognmic Plants. 263 



Okder XXXVIIL— EUBIACE^. 

 Genus 1. Coprosma, Forst. 

 1. C. autumnalis, sp. uov. 



Plant, a small tree, or tall slender shrub, erect, 12-16 feet 

 high, few - branched ; trunk 3-5 inches diameter, clear of 

 branches ; branches distant, slender, long, drooping; bark thin, 

 light-brown, with a fine scaly silvery- white epidermis ; inner 

 bark orange. Leaves large, membranous, not numerous, sub- 

 terminal on branchlets, 1-lJ inches apart, broadly lanceolate, 

 5-6^ inches long, 2^3-| inches broad, acute, narrowly mar- 

 gined ; margins sub-crenulate, especially towards tips ; dark- 

 green and shining above, much paler below, coarsely reticulated 

 on both sides, deeply and largely foveolate in main axils ; 

 foveolfe ciliate ; petioles stout, 1-1^ inches ; stipules large, sub- 

 conical, cuspidate, hard, black, glossy. Peduncles axillary ; 

 (fern.) stout, sub-compressed, 1-li inches long, trichotomously 

 branched ; the 3 sub-peduncles fascicled, each ^ inch long ; 

 stipules at base 4-fid. Flowers — Male : Peduncles ^-f inch 

 long, rather slender, 3- sometimes 6-branched, with a pair of 

 small leafy bracts at base ; sub-peduncles 4-5 lines long ; heads 

 of flowers large, densely compact, outer heads each 6-9, middle 

 head 8-16 flowers ; calyx small, cup-shaped, with 5-6 stoutish 

 teeth ; corolla campanulate, 3 lines long, 5-lobed ; lobes rather 

 large, one-third length of corolla, sub-acute, erect ; anthers 6 

 (sometimes in outer flowers 5), large, stout, 2 lines long, linear, 

 obtuse, purple-tipped, base much hastate, very pendulous ; 

 stamens ^ inch long, filiform, minutely papillose. Female : 

 outer 2 sub-peduncles, each 3-4, and the central one 6-9 

 flowers ; involucral or floral bract large, with 6-8 coarse teeth ; 

 calyx greenish, purple spotted, sub-urceolate, with 5-6 stout 

 teeth ; teeth conniving ; corolla pale green, infundibuliform, 2^ 

 lines long, 5- sometimes 6-lobed; lobes large, obtuse, spreading, 

 sub-recurved ; stigmas 2, ^ inch long, stout, divergent, much 

 crumpled, very pubescent. Fruit 3-4, sometimes 5-6 (rarely 

 9), drupse, clustered, sessile, broadly elliptic, 4-4^ lines long, 

 bright red (red-currant-colour), very glossy. Seeds large, oval, 

 sub-acute, 3J lines long, 2 lines broad, convex on the outside, 

 flat within, white, somewhat silvery. 



Hab. Forests near Norsewood, County of Waipawa ; 

 1881-6 : W.C. Flowering in May and June. 



Obs. I. The near afiinity of this fine species is with 

 C. grandifolia, Hook, fil., from which, however, it differs in 

 several characters : as the larger number of its flowers in 

 heads, both male and female, in its corollas, anthers, and large 

 elliptic fruits. It is a curious and novel sight to see in the 

 autumn the female plant loaded with both ripe fruit and the 



